Crime & Safety

Bellevue Police: Man Says He Killed Wife for Verbal Abuse

A 71-year-old man walked into the Bellevue Police Department headquarters and confessed to murdering his wife.

A Bellevue man who told police he killed his wife with a hatchet said he did it because he was tired of his wife's verbal abuse, Bellevue police said Saturday.

The man, 71, walked into headquarters at City Hall Friday afternoon and told police that he killed his wife Wednesday morning in their Lake Hills-neighborhood home, according to Bellevue Police spokeswoman Carla Iafrate.

He told police that he killed her in her room, locked the door and waited two days before coming to the Bellevue Police Department, according to Iafrate.

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Bellevue police officers found the deceased woman, 71, at their home in the 100 block of 159th Avenue Southeast.

The man was booked on suspicion of first-degree murder and booked into King County Jail.

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Charges are expected to be filed by the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office next week, according to Iafrate.

The police released more details of the man and his family, though Iafrate said that the police would not confirm the man's name until charges were filed in court.

According to police, the couple had been married for 46 years, with two children who live in the greater Seattle area.

The couple had a history of domestic violence in their past but nothing extensive, police reported. The 71-year-old suspect was retired from Boeing and U.S. Steel, each of 17 years, according to the Bellevue police department.

Iafrate would not confirm the identify of the man, but KOMO4 said that neighbors reported that the couple that lived in the home were James and Jean Schumacher.

James Williams Schumacher was booked into King County's Seattle Correctional Facility around 10 p.m. Friday in connection with a domestic violence murder, according to the jail records. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office said an identification on the woman is not likely to be official until Monday at the earliest.


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