Joseph Clark, 49, called the cops on himself after allegedly murdering his pregnant wife in their Vail, Arizona home on Friday, according to charging documents.
Clark walked out of the family’s residence and surrendered to officers who responded to his own report that he had killed Noelle Clark, 39, his wife of roughly a decade who was expecting their third child. Police found her body wrapped in a blanket inside the garage, with the couple’s two young children — ages 2 and 5 — discovered unharmed on the interior stairs.
The violence began in the children’s bedroom, where Joseph Clark allegedly beat his wife with a belt. Whip marks on Noelle’s body matched a belt recovered from that room, investigators noted in court documents. During the assault, he stabbed her in the chest, leaving behind a knife and a pool of blood in the space shared by their toddlers.
He then dragged her body through the house to the garage, where he ran over her with a vehicle, according to police. Tire marks were visible on Noelle’s arms, and bloody tire prints were found on the garage floor.
Once in custody, Clark offered a bizarre explanation for his actions. He claimed he had been “tortured, shocked over a couple of years” by his wife.
He continued with an even stranger allegation about the source of his suffering.
“All my teeth had popped out from being zapped,” Clark told police, according to charging documents.
Officers observed no obvious injuries on him that would support his claims of prolonged torture.
The evidence at the scene also indicated Clark had planned to dispose of his wife’s body after killing her, police allege, though his self-reporting to authorities interrupted any follow-through on that plan.
Clark faces two counts of second-degree murder. A judge set his bond at $1 million, according to jail records.
The couple’s two surviving children were reportedly unharmed physically but left in the home amid the aftermath of the fatal attack. The status of Noelle Clark’s pregnancy — described in charging documents as being in her second or third semester — adds a potential second victim to the case under Arizona law.
Clark remained in custody as of this report.