Fairbury, NE: Fairbury woman arrested after allegedly killing husband Friday

By CORY MATTESON / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, March 14, 2011 4:00 pm

Investigators believe a rural Jefferson County woman violently beat her husband at their home Friday afternoon, hours before he died at a Lincoln hospital.
Susan Marie DeJong, 54, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of the first-degree murder of Thomas DeJong, 52, according to Nebraska State Patrol spokeswoman Deb Collins.
Just before 4 p.m. Friday, Susan DeJong called 911 and reported that her husband was not breathing and was cold to the touch at their rental house, 55930 Highway 136, about nine miles west of Fairbury.
Rescue workers found DeJong badly beaten. He was taken to Fairbury Community Health Center and then to BryanLGH Medical Center West by ambulance. He died in Lincoln late Friday evening.
According to a probable cause affidavit for Susan DeJong's arrest, Thomas DeJong sustained injuries to nearly all of his body and "would have had great pain and suffering from the wounds."
A Lincoln doctor who examined Thomas DeJong reported numerous small incisions as well as bruising over most of his body and face. He suffered blunt force trauma to his brain, and bruising near his knees was similar to "injuries received by pedestrians being struck by an automobile," according to the affidavit.
The beating appeared to have taken place throughout the main floor of the house, as blood was found in most of the rooms, the affidavit states. Seized during a search of the house was a weapon described as either a sword or bayonet, according to the affidavit. Blood and hair were found on the weapon's metal sheath.
Lincoln police investigators spoke with Susan DeJong after she drove to the Lincoln hospital Friday. According to the affidavit, she told them at one point that another woman caused some of Thomas DeJong's injuries. When asked by a detective what had happened with a coffee cup earlier in the day, Susan DeJong replied that "his head cracked it," according to the affidavit.
Following the interview and a search of the couple's rental home, investigators believed Susan DeJong was solely responsible for Thomas DeJong's death.
After being jailed Saturday in Lincoln, she was transported to jail in Jefferson County.
Collins said the couple recently moved to rural Fairbury from South Dakota. Results of Thomas DeJong's autopsy are pending, she said.
Jefferson County Attorney Linda Bauer said she likely would file charges later this week.
An obituary in the Mitchell, S.D., newspaper said the DeJongs lived in Alexandria, S.D. Services are planned for 11 a.m. Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church in Mitchell. Burial will be 2 p.m. Saturday in the Germantown Cemetery in Chancellor, S.D. Arrangements are being handled by the Will Funeral Chapel in Mitchell.