FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Fort Lauderdale man who is accused of stabbing his wife and starving his dog appeared in court Tuesday, where he was denied bond.
Jeffrey Thacker was arrested last Thursday on charges of murder without premeditation and causing cruel death and pain and suffering to an animal.
Thacker appeared in court Tuesday in a wheelchair and his attorney asked the judge to order a mental evaluation for Thacker. The judge declined to do so at this time.
According to an arrest report, police went to Jeffrey Thacker's home at 2019 NE 14th Court on April 25 after someone called the police station asking that officers conduct a well-being check for Thacker's wife.
Officers said they had been to the couple's home at least four times since Feb. 28, but had been unable to make contact with the couple.
Police said the officer walked to the rear of the home after no one answered the door on April 25 and smelled what he believed to be a decomposing body.
The officer walked back to the front of the home and saw Thacker, 65, walking around the home with what appeared to be blood on his clothes, the report said.
Police said Thacker eventually came to the door and said, "I killed her. I stabbed her with a pair of scissors."
Police said Thacker had a cut on his left arm and a bleeding cut on his chest, near his right nipple.
Thacker told officers that he took the scissors from his wife after she stabbed him and made a slashing motion from left to right to demonstrate how he killed her, the report said.
He claimed she told him: "Live or die," and hit him "really hard in the lower back," police said.
Police said they found the woman's body in their bedroom.
Police said Thacker claimed that she had been dead since before Valentine's Day and told them their dog was dead, too.
"It was a rescue dog -- a Dalmatian. Quiet, never barked -- very gentle dog," one neighbor said. "She used to walk him by here and we would talk. She was the only one to walk the dog. He never came out of the house except to wander around and drink."
After obtaining a search warrant, authorities said they found the dog dead under a bed in a closed back bedroom.
A necropsy performed at Coral Springs Animal Hospital determined that the dog died from starvation. Veterinarians suspect that the dog had been without food or water for between two weeks and a month.
An autopsy determined that Thacker's wife had died as a result of multiple stab wounds.
The medical examiner said she had been stabbed 25 times and had at least 10 stab wounds on his hands and arms, consistent with defensive wounds.
The medical examiner said the woman also had stab wounds to her chest and head. She is believed to have been dead for several days to weeks before her body was found.
Records show that Thacker and his wife have been in court before in connection with domestic violence accusations made against Thacker.