MUNCIE, IN – A seemingly trivial dispute over an outdated home decor trend turned tragic last night in the Indiana city of Muncie, resulting in the brutal murder of a local man by his wife. According to police reports, officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at the residence of James and Linda Roberts in the Westridge neighborhood shortly after 11 PM.
When they arrived at the two-story home on Greenbriar Drive, they found the body of 43-year-old James Roberts lying on the living room floor with multiple stab wounds. His wife Linda, 41, was taken into custody at the scene without incident.
Neighbors say the couple could often be heard arguing, usually about James’s habit of karate chopping the decorative throw pillows that Linda liked to keep on the living room sofa – a trend that had been popular in the 1990s but is now considered quite outdated.
“It used to be a thing for a while there, that silly karate chop move to smash down the pillows before sitting,” said next-door neighbor Denise Wilkins. “But it went out of style like 20 years ago. Linda would get so mad at James for still doing it to her pillows.”
“She kept telling him ‘That pillow chopping fad is so over, stop wrecking my pillows!'” Wilkins added. “But he just couldn’t stop himself, no matter how much she nagged him about it.”
The fatal incident appears to have been triggered by another pillow karate-chopping episode on Sunday night. After an intense verbal altercation, prosecutors allege that Linda Roberts grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed her husband multiple times. James Roberts was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders.
“This is among the most bizarre and senseless cases of domestic violence we’ve ever seen in Muncie,” said Police Chief Jason Hunter in a statement. “For a man’s life to be taken over his inability to let go of an outdated home decor fad is absolutely tragic.”
Linda Roberts has been charged with first-degree murder. She is being held without bail at the Delaware County jail pending further court proceedings. Her attorney, Paul Bergman, did not comment on the specifics of the case but stated that he plans to use a temporary insanity defense, citing his client’s long history of grievances over her husband’s repeated decorative faux-pas.
Truth Bureau 