Wife of Jogger Killed in Random Attack Takes Her Own Life 2 Weeks After His Death: 'I'm Lost Without Him'

The wife of a jogger who was killed in a random attack earlier this month took her own life on Sunday, police said.


Dave Stevens, 53, was found hacked to death on the White Rock Creek Trail in Dallas, Texas, two weeks ago, allegedly the victim of a random attack by former Texas A&M player Thomas Johnson.

In an emotional interview shortly before her death, Stevens' wife, Patti, told The Dallas Morning News that he was the "love of her life."

"I'm lost without him," she said tearfully. "People need to know that this was a wonderful person going out and doing what he loved to do."

On the day he was killed, Stevens woke up at 5:30 a.m. to run 10 miles around White Rock Lake, something he did every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. When he didn't come home, Patti immediately began to worry – so she drove to the lake, looking for his car. She found it and waited beside it most of the day.

At midnight, when Stevens still hadn't shown up, Patti finally called 911. She knew there'd been a violent death in the park earlier that morning, but she hoped it wasn't her husband. Just a day later though, following a visit to the Dallas County morgue, her worst fears were confirmed.

At the time of the interview, Patti was struggling to cope with her husband's death – she wasn't eating or sleeping, and she had to fight to get her words out. according to the Morning News. "Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I can sit there and think, but I can’t think too hard," she told the newspaper.

Less than a week later, she was found dead. Police haven't commented on the manner of her death, but she was found in her garage, WFAA reports.

Johnson, 21, is charged with murder in Stevens' death. He called police after the incident to report the crime, allegedly telling authorities that he was "angry" about being kicked out of his home and took it out on Stevens, CBS Dallas-Fort Worth reports. The two did not know each other.

Johnson has not yet entered a plea. Information for a lawyer was not immediately available. people