Inset: Scott R. Thompson (Rusk County Jail). Background: The area in Texas where Thompson allegedly killed his wife (Google Maps).
A Texas man, aged 47, is facing charges for allegedly murdering his wife by striking her with an ax and then confining her body in their home while their children were at school.
Scott Raymond Thompson was apprehended this week and is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Amanda Thompson, according to court records.
The Rusk County Sheriff’s Office filed a probable cause affidavit stating that deputies were dispatched to the 5900 block of County Road 3122 on March 18 around 2 p.m., following a welfare check request from a family member of Thompson.
The caller, who identified himself as Thompson’s uncle, informed the dispatcher that Thompson had confessed over the phone to killing his wife with an ax and locking her body in the hallway.
Thompson reportedly asked his uncle to pick up his children from school that day and take them to another location to prevent them from discovering their mother’s body at home.
Upon arriving at the scene, deputies reported seeing blood through the backdoor window in the hallway leading to the kitchen.
Deputies decided the “exigent circumstances” presented by the scene required them to make a forceful entry into the home.
“Upon entry, [the deputies] observed a deceased white female lying beside the back door with wounds consistent with sharp force trauma to the back of her head and a large amount of blood surrounding the body,” the affidavit states. The victim was later identified as Amanda Thompson.
The sheriff’s office said that after brutally killing his wife, Scott Thompson fled from the scene in a car, according to reporting from Nacogdoches, Texas, CBS affiliate KYTX. Investigators put out an APB on the vehicle, which soon pinged in Atlanta, Texas. Scott Thompson was reportedly located in Pope County, Arkansas, and taken into custody later that day by Arkansas State Police.
Scott Thompson has since been extradited back to Texas to face the murder charge, Waco, Texas, CBS affiliate KWTX reported.
Scott Thompson is currently being held in the Rusk County Jail. Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Jana Enloe subsequently ordered him to remain in custody in lieu of $1.5 million bond.
