Arkansas man stabs wife to death for changing TV channel — and then calls for ‘meat wagon’

An Arkansas man could face the death penalty for stabbing his wife to death during an argument over the television.

Tony Thomas went outside to smoke Nov. 19 while watching a football game, according to court documents, and then came back inside to discover his wife had changed the channel, reported Arkansas Online.

The 58-year-old Carlisle man asked Elke Thomas the score of the game he'd been watching, and police said the couple argued after the wife yelled at him.

Thomas allegedly took a knife from the wall and began stabbing his wife, which the man says he does not remember doing.

"He claimed he'd blacked out and when he 'came to,' he was over her with a knife in his hands," investigators said.

Thomas then called the Lonoke County Sheriff's Office and asked dispatchers to send a "meat wagon and police" because he had killed his wife, according to court documents.

A witness said she heard breaking glass and then saw Thomas stabbing his wife, and the witness said she ran outside and flagged down a passerby for help.

Deputies found the body of Elke Thomas lying under a blanket and tarp in the backyard, with a knife nearby.

Thomas was charged Monday in the case, which included habitual offender charges due to previous felony convictions.

He remains held without bond in the killing.