Jenean Chapman’s family described her as an accomplished woman who once worked as assistant for Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. But in October 2023, her body was unrecognizable, according to her family, when she was found dead in her downtown Dallas apartment. Someone close to her was convicted of her murder, and now, they have learned their fate.
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A welfare check in September 2023 was requested by Chapman’s HR manager after she had took time off of work for “domestic issues,” FOX 4 reported. After her job hadn’t heard from her for five days, police discovered her dead on her bed with injuries to her neck, face and body. Police said a large amount of blood was present and a lamp and nightstand had been toppled over.
Her husband, James Michael Patrick, had been treated for “an adverse reaction to an unknown substance” at an Austin hospital. A doctor observed a bloody, black fingernail on Patrick during his examination, and when asked how the injury happened, Patrick admitted he “got in a fight with my wife.”
Chapman’s family claimed there had been signs of domestic abuse during their on-and-off relationship for six years before marrying in July 2023. They also called their relationship unstable and rocky.
Patrick was arrested and charged with murder after his hospital visit. After his murder trial in Dallas County, a jury found him guilty of killing his wife of five months. He was sentenced to spend the next 72 years in prison, and according to FOX 4, he showed no emotion as his sentencing was announced.
Sarah Ferguson, member of the royal family, expressed her grief about her former assistant of five year’s murder on Instagram at the time, per FOX News. “I am shocked and saddened to learn that Jenean Chapman, who worked with me as my personal assistant many years ago, has been murdered in Dallas aged just 46,” she wrote. Ferguson, the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, who is the late-Queen Elizabeth’s son and King Charles’ brother, called Chapman “loyal, hardworking, beautiful and fun.”
She added how she had just “heard from her just a couple of months ago and she seemed so happy.”
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