ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A St. Johns County man accused in the death of his wife has been arrested, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
In December, deputies said David Armstrong called 911 and said his wife was badly injured and unresponsive. He then told investigators that an unknown man dropped his naked wife off in the front yard of their rural St. Johns County home, yelled at him and threatened him with a gun. Armstrong said the man then took off before he called 911.
Detectives later determined the woman had been dead for several hours and died of blunt trauma to the head, neck and torso.
MORE: Death investigation underway in St. Johns County
Armstrong told detectives his wife had left the day before to use drugs with people he didn’t know. He said she suffered from mental illness and was part of a prostitution ring. But Armstrong also gave several conflicting statements about when and how his wife had been dropped off, investigators said, and witnesses contradicted his claims that his wife used drugs or was a prostitute. An autopsy later showed she had no narcotics in her system at the time of her death.
During the investigation, detectives found that Armstrong had called 911 a few months prior and claimed his wife had been abducted.
When she was found, she told detectives and a neighbor she had to leave the house naked because Armstrong was trying to kill her and had threatened to “cave her skull in with a cinder block.” She was later Baker Acted.
While in treatment, Armstrong’s wife said he refused to provide her medication, would “throw cans at her” and “held her down with cinder blocks.”
Armstrong, who was arrested in Georgia, is being held on no bond.
At the time of his arrest, he was on probation after being convicted on cruelty to children and false imprisonment charges.