A Tavernier man is under arrest charged with murdering his girlfriend over the weekend at their home on Atlantic Circle Drive.

The autopsy on the body of 47 year old Jade Dixon revealed the cause of death was manual strangulation. Her body was found in the bedroom of the home she shared with 44 year old Jeremy Stigler on Monday after Stigler came to the Sheriff’s Office substation on Plantation Key at 10:30 a.m. He walked in to the substation, said Dixon was dead and that he was a suspect in her death.

According to detectives, Stigler says Dixon had a knife and was holding it to her own stomach. He said she then lunged at him with the knife and he punched her in the face. He said she fell to the ground and became disoriented, but was still reaching for the knife. He said he stepped on her chest to stop her from getting the knife.

He said after that, he helped her walk to the bedroom where he put her to bed. He said he fell asleep and, when he woke up she was deceased.

The timeline of this incident is unclear; the two were involved in a domestic dispute Saturday night. Deputies responded to the house at 11 p.m. and Dixon was taken to the hospital for unrelated medical issues. Dixon was last seen alive on Sunday in the early morning hours when she was released from the hospital.

Later on Sunday, deputies responded to a crash on Atlantic Circle Drive at 4 p.m. involving a vehicle belonging to Dixon. Neighbors reported Stigler was the driver, although he was gone from the scene when deputies arrived. The vehicle was towed and deputies did not make contact with Stigler that day.

Stigler told detectives after he found her dead, he took a large number of valium and Xanax pills and slept. He said when he woke up he got into the car and crashed into two mailboxes and a fence. He said after the crash he returned to the house.

At some point, he said he told a friend what happened. The friend took him to the Sheriff’s Office.

Stigler was arrested and was booked into the Monroe County Detention Center for murder.