Jill Biden’s ex-husband has been arrested and charged with the murder of his current wife. William Stevenson, 77, was detained on Monday (February 2) and is facing a charge of first-degree murder over the death of Linda Stevenson, according to reports of a grand jury indictment filed in Delaware.

Former First Lady, Mrs Biden, was married to Mr Stevenson for five years, but they divorced in May 1975. Police in New Castle County did not provide details of the death. Early reports said officers had responded to a domestic dispute on December 28 at a property in the Wilmington area.

Officers found Mrs Stevenson unresponsive in the living room. She died despite life-saving efforts carried out by police at the scene.

The police said her body was handed over to the Delaware Division of Forensic Science for an autopsy, NBC News reports.

New Castle County police had carried out a week-long investigation into the death, according to the grand jury indictment cited by the same outlet.

Mr Stevenson is said to be in custody at the Howard Young Correctional Institution after failing to post bail of $500,000 (£364,984).

Mrs Biden, then Jill Tracy Jacobs, was 18 when she married Mr Stevenson, who was then 23, in February 1970. At the time she was a student at the University of Delaware.

She met Joe Biden, former US president, in March 1975 when he was a senator for Delaware.