Former WWF Wrestler, Billy Jack Haynes, has been transported to jail after being officially charged with the murder of his wife. pic.twitter.com/XUor1QvsbpFormer WWF star William “Billy Jack” Haynes has been charged with his wife's murder.
Haynes, 70, was charged on Wednesday with second-degree murder for the unlawful use of a weapon for allegedly shooting his wife, Jannette Becraft, 85.
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The shooting took place on February 8 at their home in Portland, Oregon.
The Portland Police Bureau said in a statement, "He is in police custody at a local hospital while he is being treated for a medical condition unrelated to the homicide or his contact with law enforcement. Once he is released from the hospital, which may be days from now, he is expected to be booked into jail. Haynes’ charges will be released once he is booked."
According to a report from the New York Post, Haynes was in a two-hour-long standoff with the Portland Police Bureau’s Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) and the Crisis Negotiation Team before being taken into police custody.
Becraft was found dead inside the home after Haynes was detained.
A neighbor, Breelyn Matthieu, told KPTV that Becraft was struggling with Dementia and that Haynes had recently been hospitalized with broken ribs from a fall. “I was staying with her for a couple of days while he was in the hospital,” Matthieu said.
Matthieu said that Haynes had checked himself out of the hospital early because "he couldn’t stand being away from her."
Haynes retired from wrestling in 1996.
"The grappler has given frequent retrospective interviews since retirement, and acknowledged involvement with cocaine trafficking rings during the 1980s," the Post reports. "In 2018, Haynes claimed to have witnessed the 1987 beating death of two Arkansas teens after they stumbled on a drug deal being conducted by corrupt local police."
Haynes' claims have not been confirmed.
The Post report added, "In 2021, the US Supreme Court struck down an appeal regarding a lawsuit from Haynes and several other former wrestlers suing the WWE for failing to protect them from repeated head injuries that led to long-term brain damage."
Haynes is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.
