A Florida Keys man is accused of killing his girlfriend at their Tavernier home.
Jeremy Stigler, 44, was arrested Thursday on a murder charge in the killing of 47-year-old Jade Dixon, Monroe County Sheriff's Office officials said.
Stigler was being held without bond Thursday, jail records showed. No attorney information was available.
Authorities say the body of Dixon was found in the couple's bedroom Monday after Stigler went to the sheriff's office substation and told deputies she was dead and he was a suspect.
Stigler said Dixon lunged at him with a knife and he punched her in the face and then stepped on her chest when she fell on the ground to stop her from getting the knife, officials said.
He said he helped her to their bedroom and they went to bed and when he woke up, she was dead, officials said. But authorities said an autopsy revealed her cause of death to be manual strangulation.
Officials said the couple had been involved in a domestic dispute Saturday night and Dixon had been hospitalized for unrelated medical issues. She was last seen alive Sunday morning when she was released from the hospital.
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Deputies had responded to a crash on the same street the couple live on later Sunday involving a car owned by Dixon. Neighbors reported that Stigler was the driver but when deputies arrived he wasn't at the scene, officials said.
Stigler told deputies after he found Dixon dead, he took a large number of valium and Xanax pills then got in the car and crashed. He said he went back to the house after the crash.
