Shocking Twist: Jill Biden’s Former Spouse Faces Murder Indictment

Paul Riverbank, 2/4/2026Jill Biden’s ex-husband indicted for murder—Delaware community shocked by tragic allegations.

The facts, as they’ve trickled out, have left friends startled and uncertain. On a cold December night—just days after the holidays had wound down—a call went out to New Castle County police. Officers arrived to find Linda Stevenson, William’s wife of nearly forty years, unresponsive on the living room floor. Try as they might, emergency crews couldn’t bring her back.

Investigators began combing through the house, the kind of split-level home where Linda, according to neighbors, once hosted late autumn barbecues, and the sound of football games—usually the Philadelphia Eagles—spilled out into the street. She’d been a familiar face around her modest bookkeeping office, quick with a referral and fiercely loyal to friends. Her loss, noted one longtime client, felt “unimaginable.”

Delaware’s medical examiner took charge of the autopsy, though the official report regarding Linda’s cause of death hasn’t yet surfaced. Meanwhile, the court has offered little to the public. Stevenson, now 77, was charged following an intense grand jury investigation, and has been unable to meet a staggering $500,000 cash bail. He remains held at Howard Young, a facility known locally by its somber, fortress-like appearance. As of now, no lawyer has publicly stepped in to represent him, and police have advised they won’t be commenting further until the inquiry broadens.

If Stevenson’s name rings bells for some, it’s more for who he married in 1970 than his political leanings. Back then, he and Jill Jacobs were young and somewhat idealistic, a college couple who didn’t expect the twists their lives would eventually take. Their separation five years later led to well-documented personal differences—a history Stevenson himself has revisited in a handful of interviews over the years, sometimes with a twinge of unresolved emotion or spite, particularly regarding the Bidens.

Yet in recent times, Stevenson’s public statements have been less about political gossip—though he’s swung sharply from past support of President Obama to a declared respect for Donald Trump—and more focused, at least before Linda’s death, on quieter routines. He would sometimes mention her during conversations, reportedly calling Linda “the greatest thing in my life,” a sentiment now at odds with the grim charges he faces.

Rumors have, perhaps inevitably, swirled around the significance of his high-profile connections. For the moment, authorities insist their investigation is anchored firmly to the domestic events of December 28, not to the stories Stevenson has told about his first marriage nor his forays into political commentary.

Inside the community, shock mixes with speculation and sorrow. Friends who’d seen Linda at the neighborhood market, Eagles jersey slung over her winter coat, say that none of it seems real. Her obituary, offered in the local paper earlier this week, reads plainly but with warmth: “deeply family-oriented,” always quick with a smile, a small business owner who worked hard for what she had.

Meanwhile, legal proceedings are moving ahead, as they tend to do—slowly, methodically, allowing little room for sentiment or rumor. Investigators are expected to release additional information soon, though for now, both the how and why behind Linda Stevenson’s death remain unresolved.

In situations like these, the public gaze rarely feels gentle. For those touched by the story—family, friends, even onlookers recalling distant interviews or glimpses of Stevenson in connection to famous people—the uncertainty is heavy. And, as the weeks progress, what began as a local tragedy may well become a more complicated chapter in the story of a man who once stood quietly at the edge of history.

William Stevenson’s life, for decades, has unfolded mostly in the shadows of someone else’s public narrative. For a handful of people in the Wilmington, Delaware area, he was better known as a small business owner, a husband—now, tragically, a defendant facing a first-degree murder charge. News of his arrest quietly shook the local community this week, though the reverberations reached well beyond state lines, given his historical tie to First Lady Jill Biden.The facts, as they’ve trickled out, have left friends startled and uncertain. On a cold December night—just days after the holidays had wound down—a call went out to New Castle County police. Officers arrived to find Linda Stevenson, William’s wife of nearly forty years, unresponsive on the living room floor. Try as they might, emergency crews couldn’t bring her back.Investigators began combing through the house, the kind of split-level home where Linda, according to neighbors, once hosted late autumn barbecues, and the sound of football games—usually the Philadelphia Eagles—spilled out into the street. She’d been a familiar face around her modest bookkeeping office, quick with a referral and fiercely loyal to friends. Her loss, noted one longtime client, felt “unimaginable.”Delaware’s medical examiner took charge of the autopsy, though the official report regarding Linda’s cause of death hasn’t yet surfaced. Meanwhile, the court has offered little to the public. Stevenson, now 77, was charged following an intense grand jury investigation, and has been unable to meet a staggering $500,000 cash bail. He remains held at Howard Young, a facility known locally by its somber, fortress-like appearance. As of now, no lawyer has publicly stepped in to represent him, and police have advised they won’t be commenting further until the inquiry broadens.If Stevenson’s name rings bells for some, it’s more for who he married in 1970 than his political leanings. Back then, he and Jill Jacobs were young and somewhat idealistic, a college couple who didn’t expect the twists their lives would eventually take. Their separation five years later led to well-documented personal differences—a history Stevenson himself has revisited in a handful of interviews over the years, sometimes with a twinge of unresolved emotion or spite, particularly regarding the Bidens.Yet in recent times, Stevenson’s public statements have been less about political gossip—though he’s swung sharply from past support of President Obama to a declared respect for Donald Trump—and more focused, at least before Linda’s death, on quieter routines. He would sometimes mention her during conversations, reportedly calling Linda “the greatest thing in my life,” a sentiment now at odds with the grim charges he faces.Rumors have, perhaps inevitably, swirled around the significance of his high-profile connections. For the moment, authorities insist their investigation is anchored firmly to the domestic events of December 28, not to the stories Stevenson has told about his first marriage nor his forays into political commentary.Inside the community, shock mixes with speculation and sorrow. Friends who’d seen Linda at the neighborhood market, Eagles jersey slung over her winter coat, say that none of it seems real. Her obituary, offered in the local paper earlier this week, reads plainly but with warmth: “deeply family-oriented,” always quick with a smile, a small business owner who worked hard for what she had.Meanwhile, legal proceedings are moving ahead, as they tend to do—slowly, methodically, allowing little room for sentiment or rumor. Investigators are expected to release additional information soon, though for now, both the how and why behind Linda Stevenson’s death remain unresolved.In situations like these, the public gaze rarely feels gentle. For those touched by the story—family, friends, even onlookers recalling distant interviews or glimpses of Stevenson in connection to famous people—the uncertainty is heavy. And, as the weeks progress, what began as a local tragedy may well become a more complicated chapter in the story of a man who once stood quietly at the edge of history.