New Orleans, LA: U.S. Navy chief petty officer will be charged in wife's stabbing death inside Algiers home

Published: Saturday, May 28, 2011, 9:51 AM Updated: Saturday, May 28, 2011, 2:12 PM
By Kari Dequine, Times Picayune
A chief petty officer with the U.S. Navy stationed in Virginia will be charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his wife, whose body was discovered this week in the couple's Algiers home, according New Orleans police.

Hugh David Marx, 43, was arrested Friday in Norfolk, Va., by members of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, two days after the body of Mary Lou Marx, 51, was found dead inside the home in the 700 block of Nunez Street, Officer Hilal Williams said late Friday in a news release.

Marx, who has been in the Navy since 1987, worked as an aviation ordnanceman, Navy spokeswoman Terry Davis said. Davis said she had no idea what Marx would have been doing in New Orleans.
Mary Lou Marx suffered two "very serious puncture wounds," one to the face and one to the chest, and died from those injuries, Williams said. According to the NOPD Major Offense Log: "The perpetrator stabbed the victim, possibly with an ink pen, in the chest and nose."
Hugh Marx will be transported to New Orleans, Williams said, though an estimated time of arrival was not given.
Police on Thursday said they had identified a suspect in the murder, and a neighbor said authorities were searching for a man dressed all in white who was seen leaving the scene, though the timing of the sighting was uncertain.
Police have not said what drew them to the house Wednesday, but confirmed that the victim's 12-year-old son was at home when officers arrived. The boy was being held by the Louisiana Department of Child and Family Services.
Officers had to force their way into the residence because the front door was locked, Fourth District Commander Heather Kouts said Wednesday, adding that the home was in disarray when officers arrived, as if someone had searched through several cupboards.