Kerwyn Jaggernauth charged in murder of wife, police say

A West Babylon man was charged Wednesday with the stabbing death of his wife last month at their home, Suffolk police said.

Homicide detectives had identified Kerwyn Jaggernauth, 31, as the suspect shortly after the body of Sonja Williams, 32, was found Feb. 20 in their Sheffield Avenue home following a bloody struggle between a driveway across the street and the couple’s yard.

Williams was pronounced dead at the scene.

Jaggernauth was discovered seriously injured in his home and had been in critical condition at a hospital, police said.

He is expected to survive and was charged at his hospital bedside with second-degree murder, police said.

Attorney Bob Macedonio of Islip, hired by Jaggernauth’s family, said his client is expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon.

Jaggernauth was not conscious until Wednesday, his attorney said, and the Suffolk District Attorney’s office told him that it was surprising his client survived because he had drank antifreeze.

“We’re in the process of having our investigators interview several family members,” Macedonio said. “We dont know what happened yet because one person is dead and the other person is unconsious.”

Other details were not immediately available Wednesday night from homicide detectives.

But the day after the murder, neighbor Karen Kluges said she saw a woman screaming to get into the couple’s house through a side entrance.

“A woman was out here banging on the door,” Kluges said Sunday afternoon. “I guess it was the grandma, because she said, ‘That’s my daughter, that’s my daughter and my grandbabies,’ over and over again. It was heartbreaking.”

Williams had two children, ages 12 and 5, one from a previous marriage and the other with Jaggernauth, police said.

Neither child was in the home during the attack, police had said, and both were put into the care of relatives.

Macedonio said Jaggernauth’s family told him there was “nothing out of the ordinary” in the couple’s relationship. He said his client’s mother babysat the children and picked up the children that day but declined to say whether she was the woman the neighbor saw.

— With Valerie Bauman