A Jacksonville man has been charged with domestic murder after detectives said he strangled a woman in October and then staged her death to look like a suicide.
Malcolm Jordan Douglas, 28, was arrested Friday on a charge of second-degree domestic murder.
According to his arrest report, Douglas called 911 on Oct. 22 because a woman at his home was not breathing. He told first responders she had hung herself.
The woman, who has not been identified by investigators, died at the hospital.
Detectives went back to the apartment with Douglas and found broken glass on the floor in the living room and kitchen and more broken shards in the trash can in the kitchen.
Detectives found fresh scratches on Douglas’ arm and noted his fingernails were bitten down to the quick. Douglas admitted to police that the woman had never made any suicidal comments.
When the Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on the woman, it determined her death was a homicide and that she had been strangled.
The State Attorney’s Office hired an outside crime scene expert to examine the evidence and autopsy report and findings and the expert agreed with the Medical Examiner’s findings that the woman’s injuries were inconsistent with suicide and that she had been strangled before the scene was staged to look like a suicide.