Former WWE star Billy Jack Haynes has been arrested and officially charged with second-degree murder in connection to the death of his wife. The arrest took place in Oregon, following a shooting incident on February 8 that resulted in a standoff between Haynes and law enforcement officials. Although the arrest was initially delayed until Haynes was released from the hospital for an unrelated matter, he has now been formally charged.
After being released from the hospital, Haynes was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of second-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon. The shooting incident and subsequent standoff marked a tragic turn in the life of the former professional wrestler, who retired from the sport in 1996.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts, a contemporary and fellow WWE Hall of Famer, expressed that he was not surprised by Haynes’s arrest, suggesting that he had always perceived Haynes as an unbalanced individual. This revelation adds another layer to Haynes’s troubled post-wrestling life, as he had previously been involved in a massive class action lawsuit against WWE in the 2000s. The lawsuit accused the company of negligence regarding the brain health of its wrestlers and was eventually dismissed in 2016.
In a disturbing twist, in 2018, Haynes admitted to having witnessed the murders of three boys in rural Arkansas back in 1987. The case remains unsolved, and Haynes revealed that he had refrained from coming forward earlier due to his involvement in drug trafficking at the time.
The arrest and subsequent charges highlight the troubled and complex life that Billy Jack Haynes has led since stepping away from professional wrestling. The wrestling community, already familiar with his involvement in legal battles against WWE, now faces the shocking reality of a former star being charged with a serious criminal offense. The details surrounding the murder and the subsequent events are likely to unfold as the legal process progresses.
