Calif. Principal Held in Husband’s Killing
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THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty Images(BAKERSFIELD, Calif.) — A California elementary school principal is expected to be arraigned Tuesday on first degree murder charges in the shooting death of her husband, authorities said.
Leslie Jenea Chance, 46, a principal at Bakersfield’s Fairview Elementary, is being held without bail after police say she fatally shot her husband of 17 years and dumped his body.
Police say their investigation began Aug. 25 when farm workers found 45-year-old Todd Chance’s body in a field near an almond orchard near town.
Police later found Chance’s Ford Mustang at an intersection 20 miles away. “We believe she abandoned the vehicle and then walked to another area and was able to make her way back to their home,” Kern County Sheriff’s spokesman Ray Pruitt said.
Jenea Chance was arrested Thursday.
Investigators claim they have the murder weapon they don’t appear to have a motive.
Further details on the slaying weren’t immediately available.
“This comes as a shock to all of us,” Chance’s family said in a statement to ABC News.
Parents at Fairview Elementary, where Chance has worked since 2006, said they’re in disbelief after hearing about her arrest Friday.
“Oh my God I was shocked. Really, really shocked,” one unidentified parent said. “Now what are the kids going to think?”
ABC News has been unsuccessful in reaching Jenea Chance. It’s unclear if she has a lawyer.
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