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Jacksonville man sentenced to 40 years for murdering wife

Wife of 20 years found dead in car trunk in 2018

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office booking photo of Gerald Stewart shown on Sky4's Friday image of house on Cavalry Boulevard showing a car in his driveway with the trunk open.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville man on Friday was sentenced to 40 years in prison in the 2018 stabbing death of his wife of 20 years.

Gerard Stewart, 49, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

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Stewart’s arrest in 2018 ended a daylong SWAT standoff in his Sandalwood neighborhood, where police found his wife’s body in the trunk of his car. Police said they found 42-year-old Julie Stewart’s body wrapped in bedding and plastic. They said she had multiple gunshot wounds, her throat was cut and there were stab wounds to the chest.

Related: Evidence points to marital, custody issues prompting wife’s murder | Man confesses to stabbing wife, stuffing body in trunk, police say | Man pleads guilty to 2nd-degree murder in 2018 stabbing death of wife | Jury deadlocks on first-degree murder charge for man whose wife was found in trunk in 2018

Court records showed that Stewart told his mother and a neighbor he killed his wife, who’d asked for a divorce. After Stewart told family members what he had done, he took a lot of pills in an attempt to kill himself, according to evidence.

Julie Ann Stewart (Provided to WJXT)

Stewart, a retired Navy man, was served divorce papers in April of 2018. According to a petition for dissolution of marriage, the couple had been married for 20 years. Her divorce attorney said Julie Stewart was a stay-at-home mother of their 9-year-old son. She had a dog-walking business on the side. Stewart worked at a Gainesville car dealership.

The boy was not in the home during the standoff and a source said he is staying with his grandparents.

Julie Stewart remembered at memorial service.

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