BOONE COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Police have arrested a high school principal and charged him with murder for the death of his wife.
According to a press release from the Boone County Sheriff Tim Roberson, deputies responded to a house in Omaha, Arkansas in relation to the death of 36-year-old Amanda Dodson.
Roberson said that the investigation and medical examiner findings revealed evidence that she died from a "severe injury." Court documents reveal Amanda died due to a "blow to the throat."
Officials then arrested her husband, 52-year-old Rocky Dodson, and charged him with second degree murder.
According to an affidavit, Amanda was found dead on the floor with "severe bruising on the legs, arms, and areas of the upper torso" on the morning of March 6.
Dodson told police that his wife was a "chronic alcoholic" and that she couldn't control her bowel movements and "defecated around the house." When he arrived on the night of March 5 he said he cleaned up the house and went to bed.
He claimed he woke up around 2:30 a.m. to let his wife in the house and then when he woke up again that morning he found her dead on the couch.
On March 9, an autopsy was conducted which found that Amanda had external bruising and hemorrhaging at the front of the neck, severe edema on the neck muscles, and "fractured, broken and crushed tracheal cartilage."
The doctor who conducted the autopsy said these injuries were "consistent with blunt force trauma."
The affidavit concluded that Rocky Dodson was at the home at the time of her death and that he "had the ability to inflict the blow" on his wife.
He denied any knowledge of his wife's injury.
Dodson was the principal of the Omaha High School and has been placed on administrative leave.
He has plead not guilty to the charges.
We will update this article with more information as it becomes available.