Former WWE wrestler Billy Jack Haynes charged with murder after wife found dead in couple’s home
Former wrestling star Billy Jack Haynes was officially charged with murder on Wednesday after allegedly fatally shooting his wife inside their Portland, Oregon home earlier this month,
William Albert Haynes Jr., 70, better known by his ring name Billy Jack Haynes, was released from the hospital and transferred to Multnomah County Detention Center on an arrest warrant, the Portland Police Bureau announced.
He has been charged with Murder in the Second Degree and Unlawful use of a Weapon in the Feb. 8 killing of Janette Becraft, 85.
Just after 9:50 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 8, Portland police responded to a call of shots fired on the 6000 block of Southeast 100th Avenue in the Lents neighborhood.
Haynes was eventually taken into police custody following a two-hour-long standoff with SWAT teams.
Becraft was found dead inside the home by officers after Haynes was detained.
Her death was ruled a homicide by gunshot wound.
“You are now flying with the angels,” Becraft’s daughter, Kim Becraft Finlay, wrote on Facebook. “They are lucky to have such a beautiful soul. Love you Mom.”
Haynes was transferred to a local hospital where he was “treated for a medical condition unrelated to the homicide or his contact with law enforcement,” according to an earlier police statement.
The former wrestler was childhood friends with Becraft’s son, Tod.
Haynes had married wrestling manager Janine Clark, also known as Lady Blossom in 1983, but the two divorced a year later.
He went on to marry Becraft, his fourth wife, in 2022.
After her first husband died, Becraft married Haynes
During his 15-year career Haynes competed on several different wrestling circuits in the Pacific Northwest and Florida before making the jump to the then named World Wrestling Federation in 1986.
He stayed on the promotion for two years where he earned a spot on the famed 1987 Wrestlemania III card in Detroit.
Haynes has grappled with the likes of Ric Flair and Randy Savage during his time with the NWA and WWF respectively.
He retired from the sport in 1996 after brief tenures in several smaller promotions.
The grappler has given frequent retrospective interviews since retirement, and acknowledged involvement with cocaine trafficking rings during the 1980s.
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.
His recollections were never confirmed.
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.
Filed in 2014, the Supreme Court declined to take on the case in 2021 after several appeals.
Haynes is expected to make his first court appearance on Thursday, according to KPTV.
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