Karin Tricia Stewart
The victim in a suspected murder has allegedly left behind a complicated love life.
James Hargrove died after his accused killer Karin Tricia Stewart, 51, allegedly learned about his relationship with another woman. On top of that, a third woman has stepped forward to say that she and the deceased man were married.
Hargrove died Saturday after multiple gunshot wounds, according to police.
“On May 7, 2022, deputies from the Harris County Precinct 4 Constables Office were [dispatched] to 23642 Buttress Root Dr. in reference to a Weapons Disturbance,” authorities wrote previously wrote. “Deputies arrived on scene to find an adult male inside the residence with multiple gunshot wounds. An adult female, Carin Stewart, advised responding deputies that she shot her husband after he told her he was in love with another woman.”
That other woman, who has not been identified by name but is believed to be 41 years old, was allegedly present at the time of the shooting. Records obtained by local CBS affiliate KHOU say that she ran from the scene and was not hurt. She allegedly told investigators that she believed Stewart and James Hargrove were in an open relationship and he wanted to introduce them, authorities said.
Deputies previously said that defendant Stewart—who was initially identified as Carin with a C, but whose name in court records begins with K—described Hargrove as her husband.
But a third woman, Sandra Hargrove, has denied that.
“I’m legally his wife,” Sandra Hargrove told local CBS affiliate KHOU in an interview. “We’ve been married since 2009. We met in 2006.”
They separated in November, she said.
“We have grandkids. We have kids,” she said as she became visibly distraught. “We have nieces and nephews. That’s still my husband.”
Sandra Hargrove said she did not know what was going on, and that she just got the call that her husband had been shot. She said that she spoke to her late husband every other day since their separation.
“I didn’t know about any of that,” Sandra Hargrove said. “All this is new. All of this is new. Shock.”
She described her husband as having just recovered from two heart attacks, a stroke, and failing kidneys.
“So for him to make it through all of that, to end like this,” she said
A GoFundMe campaign to pay for the funeral raised $810 of a $10,000 goal as of Tuesday.
Authorities reportedly said James Hargrove and Stewart were in a relationship for seven years and lived together on and off. But deputies said they got a different story about their relationship from the man’s relatives.
“Other family members of the victim have reported that they were boyfriend and girlfriend,” Harris County sheriff’s spokesperson Thomas Gilliland told Law&Crime in an email on Tuesday.
Stewart had pleaded guilty to simple battery in 2018 after Louisiana authorities said she ran over her then-husband (not Hargrove) with a truck, according to local ABC affiliate KTRK. She sprayed lighter fluid in the man’s face, a witness said.
Stewart appeared in court Monday morning. A judge set bond at $75,000, online records show. Her attorney of record did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime’s request for comment.
[Screenshot via KHOU]