Maricopa County Attorney's Office detective accused of killing his wife | Crime Files

MESA, Ariz. - Court records show a Mesa man has been arrested for allegedly killing his wife.

The alleged crime, per the documents, only came to light after the victim's friend reported to police that she had been missing.

Here are the details.

Who's the suspect?

John Byrd (Courtesy: Maricopa County Sheriff's Office)

Court documents identify the suspect as 47-year-old John C. Byrd III.

While the documents did not list the suspect's employer, officials with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office have confirmed that Byrd is one of their employees.

"MCAO is in the process of ending Mr. Byrd's employment," a portion of the statement reads.

In a 2023 news release, officials with MCAO identified Byrd as a detective with the agency. That news release is no longer accessible from the website, but in it, Byrd was described as a detective with the agency's investigation division, in the Family Violence and Trial West Bureau.

What happened?

The incident, per court documents, happened at a home in the area of Baseline and Crismon.

Investigators say on July 31, officers responded to the home for a report of a possible missing person.

"The Reporting Party (RP) stated that [the victim] had not been seen or heard from for most of the day, and the victim had failed to show up to a gym class that they always attend together," read a portion of the court documents. "The RP contacted [the victim's son] via text and was informed that the son and [his two sibling] had not seen the victim all day, and her bedroom door was locked."

Byrd, investigators say, left the house at around noon that day. Officers at the scene eventually did a welfare check, and found the victim dead on the bedroom floor.

"There were a lot of police cars here all night. They put up police tape, and they did their investigation," said a man who lives in the area. "It's heartbreaking, and it's tragic."

Detectives say they later found Byrd driving a car that was registered to the victim in the area of Warner and Power Roads. He was later taken to Mesa Police headquarters, and was interviewed after he was given his Miranda warning.

"The defendant stated he has had some mental issues lately and has been very stressed about his home and work life," investigators wrote. "The defendant stated he and the victim were in a heated argument on [July 31] at about 6:00 a.m. The defendant stated that during that argument ‘a switch just flipped’ in him and he put his hands around the victim's neck and strangled her to death."

Byrd, per detectives, said he left the victim in the bedroom, and locked the bedroom door so the kids won't see her.

"The defendant stated he knew what he had done was wrong," investigators wrote.

What is the suspect being accused of?

Court documents state Byrd is accused of 2nd degree murder (A.R.S. 13-1104A1).

Per MCAO, the Pinal County Attorney's Office will handle Byrd's prosecution.