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William Dembie, a corrections officer at the Lorain County jail, telephoned the sheriff's office where he worked in the early hours of Aug. 11, 2011, and told the dispatcher who answered that he had killed his wife, according to court records and local news reports. Holly Dembie, 33, was found stabbed to death behind the couple's home in Lorain, Ohio.

The dispatcher, Joiann Sanchez, knew Dembie and greeted him before he explained why he was calling, WOIO-TV reported. On the recording Dembie referred to Holly as "my wife, my ex-wife," and when the conversation turned to what had happened he said, "Almost a beheading. Yeah, I killed her." He stayed on the line and at one point raised the question of who would look after his dog.

Deputies were sent to the house and took Dembie into custody, and he confessed again to detectives after his arrest, according to court records. He was held on $5 million bond. Dembie, 42, had worked at the Lorain County jail since 1999.

Prosecutors said the killing followed an argument in which Dembie struck Holly in the face and retrieved a sheathed knife. She locked herself in a bathroom, and Dembie kicked in the door, the Ninth District Court of Appeals wrote in a later ruling. As she tried to climb out a second-story window, he stabbed her in the abdomen and she fell to the ground below. He then walked outside to where she lay, stabbed her repeatedly and cut her throat.

Holly Dembie worked as a paraprofessional with visually impaired and multiply disabled children at West Elementary School in the Midview Local Schools, according to news accounts. Both sides raised allegations of abuse during the case, which included a domestic violence charge.

Dembie waived his right to a jury and was tried before Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Mark Betleski. On Dec. 6, 2013, the judge acquitted him of aggravated murder but found him guilty of two counts of murder, two counts of felonious assault and domestic violence. He was sentenced on Dec. 16, 2013, to an aggregate term of 20 years to life in prison.

Dembie appealed, arguing that his convictions should have merged for sentencing. The Ninth District Court of Appeals rejected the argument and affirmed the sentence on July 20, 2015, finding that the stabbing at the bathroom window and the fatal attack after Holly fell were carried out with separate intent.