Forest Park man named as lead suspect in wife’s death, police say

FOREST PARK, Ohio (WXIX) - Police have named a Forest Park man as the lead suspect in the death of his wife on Monday.

Forest Park officers responded to a possible suicide around 3:45 p.m. on Bessinger Drive. They found Huletta Jenkins, 47, and her husband, Wilford Jenkins, seriously injured with stab wounds in the home they shared.

Huletta was pronounced dead at the home.

EMS transported Wilford to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he remains.

Forest Park police clarified on Tuesday that Wilford is not in custody but that he is the lead suspect. They also said there is no other suspect in the case.

Wilford is expected to recover but will be in the hospital “for a while,” according to Forest Park Lt. Adam Pape.

Pape described Wilford’s wounds as self-inflicted.

The officers were initially dispatched after a man called 911 claiming to be Wilford’s friend.

According to a recording of the 911 call, the friend said a “babbling,” nonsensical Wilford had called him saying he’d just stabbed himself in the chest.

The friend told the call taker he didn’t believe Wilford had a history of suicidal behavior but that Wilford had “been experiencing mental health problems off and on for the last month.”

The friend also told the call taker Wilford lived in the home with his wife and their two sons, both in their 20s.

Zachary Black is a contractor working on a house nearby.

“I mean, I’ve been here for, like, three weeks and I’ve seen the cops come here four to five times,” he said.

Black says he heard a lot of chaos on Monday.

“There were loud screams and crying,” he said. “The only thing I heard him say was, ‘There’s a lot of blood in there.’”

According to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, Wilford was a corrections officer with the county from February 2019 to December 2020.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Forest Park Police Department at 513-595-5220.

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