Charge: Woodbury man stabbed wife in jealous rage, soon caught on bus in Wisconsin

A Woodbury man is in a Wisconsin jail awaiting his return to the Twin Cities, where he is charged with fatally stabbing his wife in the back during a jealous rage.

McKinley J. Phillips, 39, was charged Monday in Washington County District Court with second-degree intentional murder in connection with the death Friday of Shavon N. Phillips, 42, whose body was found in the couple's home.

Six children were home at the time.

McKinley Phillips was arrested about 150 miles away in Monroe County, Wis., just before 5 a.m. Saturday, according to the jail log.

He is expected to be returned to Washington County before a court appearance later this week, Police Cmdr. John Altman said.

Police records revealed officers had been called to the home three times in the past two months for "domestic-related incidents, [and] responding officers noted that [McKinley] Phillips appeared to be intoxicated."

According to the criminal complaint: A woman called 911 about 3:45 p.m. Friday and said her son told her he killed his wife and left her body in the basement.

Law enforcement arrived at the home, where Shavon Phillips' six children exited at the direction of officers, who soon found the mother dead with multiple stab wounds.

Authorities arrested McKinley Phillips less than 12 hours later in Tomah on an eastbound bus.

From the jail, McKinley Phillips told Woodbury police that he was mad because he found a letter to her from an old boyfriend who is in jail, and he believed she was cheating on him.

He said the attack occurred between 9 and 10 a.m., and the children were unaware of what happened. He left the home between 11 and 11:30 a.m., abandoned his car in St. Paul, took a bus to Minneapolis and then got on a Greyhound bus bound for Chicago.

Autopsy results showed that Shavon Phillips died from stab wounds to her back, chest and neck and other traumatic injuries.

The children are being cared for, Altman said.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482