Dallas public defender’s chief investigator charged with wife’s murder after bloody apartment discovery
Jimmy Spurger Jr., right, faces a murder charge in the fatal stabbing of his wife, Maria Spurger. The Dallas police file photo at left shows an unrelated scene. (Laura Buckman/AFP via Getty Images)/Dallas County Jail)
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A Texas investigator who spent years working on capital murder cases is now accused of killing his wife of roughly 35 years, less than two weeks after filing for divorce.
Jimmy Spurger Jr., 54, the chief investigator for the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office, faces a first-degree felony murder charge after his wife, Maria Spurger, was found stabbed to death inside their downtown Dallas apartment Friday night.
Emergency crews found Maria on a couch with a knife in her neck and her husband sitting on a bed in another room, covered in blood, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Fox 4 Dallas.
Spurger filed for divorce Oct. 26, less than two weeks before the killing, according to Dallas County court records. The case was still open, with a Nov. 3 entry indicating Maria had not been served with the divorce papers.
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Jimmy Spurger Jr., chief investigator for the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office, is charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of his wife, Maria Spurger. (Dallas County Jail)
Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins said Sunday that he had ordered Spurger suspended and his access revoked.
“Upon notice of this tragic murder yesterday, I instructed Administration to place the employee on suspension and remove his access,” Jenkins wrote on X.
Firefighters received a welfare check call around 10:40 p.m. Friday and went to the couple’s apartment on North Akard Street, according to the affidavit.
No one answered their repeated knocks. When firefighters forced the door open, they found furniture blocking the entrance.
They moved it aside and found Maria unresponsive on the couch. Spurger was sitting on a bed in the bedroom, but he did not answer when firefighters asked whether he was OK.
The crews backed out and called police.
Officers arrived around 11:13 p.m. and found Spurger covered in blood, with a small knife beside him. Several empty pill bottles covered in blood were in the kitchen, according to the affidavit. No one else was found inside.
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Maria was pronounced dead at the apartment. Spurger was taken to Methodist Central Hospital, and investigators said they could not interview him because he may have taken multiple pills.
He was booked into the Dallas County Jail Saturday on a murder charge and is being held without bond, according to jail records.
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The Texas, U.S. and Dallas city flags fly in Dallas in a file photo. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Before his arrest, Spurger oversaw investigators who helped public defenders prepare criminal cases, according to the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office website. His biography says he served as chief investigator for 11 months.
He spent more than 13 years with the office, primarily in its Capital Murder Division, where his work included examining evidence and interviewing witnesses.
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A Dallas Police Department SUV is pictured in an unrelated file photo. (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News via Getty Images)
Before joining the public defender’s office, Spurger spent more than 20 years in law enforcement, specializing in homicide investigations and crimes against people, according to the website. During his final decade in law enforcement, he supervised child abuse and family violence investigations for the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.
Police have not released a motive and said the killing remains under investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective C. Johnson at 214-671-3584 or chanesia.johnson@dallaspolice.gov.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Dallas Police Department for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
