“I just committed murder,” William A. Strickland is heard telling a 911 dispatcher the night of Aug. 27. “She provoked me.”
Carolyn Grace Strickland, 62, died in their home in the 1000 block of Angier Drive in the Madden Hills neighborhood.
She was stabbed 18 times in the chest and back with a 10-inch butcher knife, police said.
Both William and Carolyn Strickland, a Dayton Public Schools fifth-grade teacher since 1993, had been married several times.
The death ended a tumultuous relationship that included civil protection orders, domestic violence, divorce and remarriage.
The couple first married in 1987, divorced in 1998 and remarried in 2009.
Following their divorce, William Strickland was convicted of hitting his then ex-wife. He was given a 6-month suspended sentence and probation.
Prior to that, William Strickland’s sister was given a civil protection order against Carolyn Strickland, alleging the woman threatened and stalked both her and her brother.
In 1999, William Strickland sought a protection order against his then ex-wife, claiming she had stalked and threatened him. He later dropped his petition.
“This defendant stabbed his wife as the result of an argument in their home,” Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck, Jr. said Thursday.
“This case is yet another example of the tragic effects of domestic violence in our community. As a result of his actions, this defendant will likely remain incarcerated for the rest of his life.”
At the time of his arrest, Strickland’s family described him as a diabetic who has dialysis three times a week and was battling throat cancer.
Three days before the stabbing, Carolyn Strickland called police to the home, saying William Strickland was armed with a handgun and threatening to kill her. Police arrested William Strickland, confiscated a .25-caliber pistol and took him to the Montgomery County Jail.
Police said Carolyn Strickland did not show up for her appointment with detectives the next day. Later that day, she returned detectives’ call and told them she had no interest in pressing charges.
Detectives presented the felony case to prosecutors — William Strickland had a previous misdemeanor domestic violence conviction in 1998 — who declined to file charges because Carolyn Strickland declined to cooperate and William Strickland was released from jail.
During the 911 call, William Strickland told the dispatcher he had stabbed his wife just minutes before making the emergency call.
He told the dispatcher he had placed the knife on a living room table and was sitting on a couch, waiting for police.
“I ain’t going anywhere. ... Ain’t no need to start CPR. She’s not living,” William Strickland said.
Police found Carolyn Strickland’s body on the living room floor.
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