HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A 48-year-old man has been charged with beating his wife to death with a pipe wrench inside of their Hollywood home.
According to officials, Claude Sejour killed his wife, 40-year-old Marie Joseph, with a pipe wrench, all while their four children were inside the house. The youngest of the children is only 4 years old.
The incident happened Wednesday morning at the couple’s residence, located along the 5800 block of Thomas Street. A full day later, the block is still taped off.
Neighbors were shocked to hear why police responded to the family’s house. “It does shock me, yes,” said a nearby resident. “This close to my home? Yes.”
“Quiet family. Into basketball, really sports oriented,” said neighbor Ernie Laszlo. “Good family.”
Another neighbor said they called police when they heard the screams. “We heard screaming, we called 911,” he said.
Detectives said Sejour snapped when his wife told him that she was expecting another baby with another man described as her boyfriend.
That’s when detectives said Sejour killed her, called 911 and waited outside of their house. When the police arrived, they said Sejour confessed to the murder.
An arrest report said, “He spontaneously began to utter that his wife had called her boyfriend, placing the call on speaker. The boyfriend stated that the victim was pregnant with this child. Sejour stated, ‘I did it. I finished her and called the police and went outside. I’m not crazy.’ He repeated those same statements numerous times.”
Police also said that there was a struggle between Sejour and Joseph before she died.
According to the arrest report, the couple’s children, ages 17, 14, 12 and 4, were inside the house.
However, Joseph’s 17-year-old daughter told 7News on Friday that she and one of her sisters were at the store at the time of their mother’s death. “When I get back, that’s when I say my mom laying on the bed with a bunch of blood on her,” she said.
The arrest report goes on to say that Sejour told a neighbor what he did and “the neighbor entered the residence and observed the victim laying on the bed with 17-year-old daughter trying to wake her. He checked her for a pulse and realized she was deceased.”
Officials said Sejour did not deny the allegations. The report said, “He stated he didn’t mean to kill her, but he was angry about the man and the baby.”
But Joseph’s 17-year-old daughter said there was no baby on the way and no boyfriend. “My mom was never pregnant, and she would never, never make my dad talk to somebody she was talking to. That’s something she would never do,” she said.
The children have since went to stay with other family.
Thursday evening, homicide detectives were still at the scene gathering evidence.
Sejour is currently is custody and is charged with one count of premeditated murder. He is currently behind bars at the Broward County Jail, Thursday.
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