Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Stormy relationship, divorce ends with fatal stabbing, police say

Woman Dead in Domestic Violence

Steve Marcus

A Metro Police crime scene truck is parked by a home in the 8500 block of Berkley Hall Street, near West Grand Teton Drive and North Buffalo Drive Monday, Oct. 20, 2014. A woman is dead and a man suffered substantial injuries after a domestic dispute at the house, police said.

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James Joyce

Woman Dead in Domestic Violence

A Metro Police officer stands by a home in the 8500 block of Berkley Hall Street, near West Grand Teton Drive and North Buffalo Drive, on Monday, Oct. 20, 2014. A woman is dead and a man suffered substantial injuries after a domestic dispute at the house this morning, police said. Launch slideshow »

Neighborhood where fatal stabbing occurred

The couple’s stormy relationship ended in divorce last month, but that didn’t prevent a final argument that police say left a Clark County School District employee dead.

James Joyce, 52, stabbed his ex-wife to death Monday morning in their shared home as their two children watched and then fled to a nearby park, according to a Metro Police arrest report released today.

The victim was identified by the Clark County Coroner’s Office as 40-year-old Jodi Sunshine Joyce, who, according to police, had reported domestic abuse three months earlier and then filed for divorce.

A School District spokeswoman said Jodi Joyce had worked for the district since 2006, most recently as a coordinator in the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Department.

The arrest report outlines the following details about Monday’s deadly encounter at a northwest valley home near Floyd Lamb Park:

The couple’s daughter called 911 at 6:25 a.m. to report that her father had stabbed her mother in the chest and then stabbed himself in the stomach.

Officers responded to the house at 8504 Berkley Hall St. and found the children in a park across the street.

When officers entered the home, James Joyce yelled through a locked bedroom door that he had a shotgun and would shoot any officer who came in. SWAT officers were called to the scene and entered the room to find Jodi Joyce on the floor with a stab wound. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

James Joyce was unconscious, suffering from several stab wounds. He was transported to University Medical Center in critical condition and booked in absentia on a count of murder.

James Joyce wasn’t unknown to law enforcement.

He had been arrested July 12 on a battery-domestic violence count after allegedly scratching his wife’s arm during an argument.

Jodi Joyce applied for a temporary protective order, which expired July 21. She did not request an extension.

A week later, on July 28, Jodi Joyce called police to report that her husband was suicidal because she announced she was filing for divorce. Officers took James Joyce into custody on a Legal 2000 — a temporary hold on someone deemed a threat to himself or others.

The divorce was finalized Sept. 29, but James Joyce was allowed to continue living at the couple’s shared home until Jan. 10.

On Monday morning, another argument erupted and James accused his ex-wife of cheating on him. He grabbed a 10-inch kitchen knife and stabbed her in the chest before turning the knife on himself.

A LinkedIn account for Jodi Joyce indicates that, in addition to her School District job, she worked as a part-time instructor at UNLV, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s of clinical mental health, addiction prevention and treatment.

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