‘I Clubbed Her’: Largo Husband Tries To Kill Wife, Self On Christmas

LARGO, FL — A 78-year-old Largo man was arrested for an attempted murder-suicide on Christmas morning, according to multiple reports.

Johnathan McPhee was charged with attempted murder, a first-degree felony, after Largo police officers responded to a domestic disturbance at a Pine Cone Way home.

McPhee called 911 just before 8 a.m. and told dispatchers that he had killed his wife and planned to take his own life, WTSP said.

“I clubbed her and I’m going to try to stab myself in the heart,” McPhee told them, WFLA reported.

In a text message, McPhee said that he killed his wife and was going to kill himself “due to financial and health issues,” reports said.

Responding officers found him with a self-inflicted knife wound outside the home. In their house, they found his wife, Lainy McPhee, with significant injuries, including a skull fracture and a brain bleed, according to IONTB.com.

Investigators learned that Jonathan McPhee used a sledgehammer to bludgeon his wife while she was in bed.

Both were brought to Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital’s trauma center in St. Petersburg and were in critical condition Thursday morning, reports said.