Ex-husband killed in self-defense, attorney tells jurors

John St. Angelo was in love with his ex-wife the day he killed her, according to witnesses Monday in his murder trial.

According to his attorney, Kathy Lowthorp, he is still in love with her.

St. Angelo, 50, is accused of fatally stabbing Suzanne Parsons, 49, of Haslet on Dec. 30, 2013, at her north Fort Worth real estate office. He is also charged with three counts of attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping related to events the day after Parsons was killed.

Tarrant County prosecutor Allenna Bangs told jurors in opening statements that the state will prove that St. Angelo slit Parsons’ throat and stabbed her 23 times.

Lowthorp said St. Angelo killed Parsons in self-defense.

Four of Parsons’ co-workers were in the office on Heritage Trace Parkway about 4:30 p.m. when Parsons and St. Angelo went into her office. The door was locked. Soon her co-workers began hearing her scream, witnesses testified.

“What happened in that room no one else knows,” Lowthorp said. “But you will hear testimony that this was clearly self-defense.”

Wyona “Cookie” Clardy, a co-worker, testified that Parsons screamed for someone to get St. Angelo off her. Clardy testified that she unlocked Parsons’ office.

“I saw John St. Angelo stabbing Suzanne,” Clardy said. “He was on one knee. She was down on the ground. She couldn’t move. There was so much blood.”

Clardy said she was afraid that St. Angelo would come after her and shoved an office chair toward him and ran away. By the time police arrived in response to 911 calls, St. Angelo had slipped out of an office window and Parsons was dead.

“Just to look at her face, it was obvious there would not be a pulse,” said Dawn Karr, another co-worker.

“Did you try to take a pulse from Suzanne’s neck?” asked prosecutor Jim Hudson.

“I couldn’t because it was cut,” Karr replied.

St. Angelo is also accused of holding a woman hostage the next day at her residence in the 6800 block of Permian Lane. The woman eventually persuaded St. Angelo to let her leave the house, and she called 911.

Police arrived and St. Angelo engaged officers in a five-hour standoff. St. Angelo fired at least 20 rounds at SWAT officers as they tried to persuade him to surrender, Bangs said. He gave up after tear gas was deployed inside the residence.

Black eye, bruises

Lowthorp told jurors that when Parsons and St. Angelo married in 2010, he was a millionaire with a construction business based in Florida that built in hospitals, Wal-Marts, schools and his own houses, Lowthorp told the jury.

But St. Angelo’s business went into a downward spiral, taking his marriage with it, Lowthorp said. The couple moved to Texas, where Parsons had family, and they were happy again for a short time. But it didn’t last, Lowthorp said.

The money continued to dwindle, and one of St. Angelo’s sons moved into their house, Lowthorp said. The poor relationship between Parsons and her stepson strained the marriage even more, Lowthorp said.

St. Angelo and Parsons went to Mexico for a vacation, but that ended in a fight that left Parsons with a black eye and numerous bruises, Bangs said.

Mexican authorities were called to separate the two, according to court documents.

“Her face was so swollen that [her daughter] Jessica didn’t even recognize her,” Bangs said.

When the couple returned to Texas, Parsons filed for divorce, which was granted Dec. 16, 2013, according to court documents. But St. Angelo still wanted her back, Bangs said.

“She wanted to leave that house, and John St. Angelo didn’t want her to,” Bangs said. “But she did leave that house and didn’t come back. That was the beginning of the end for Suzanne Parsons. You just don’t leave a man like John St. Angelo until he’s ready for you to go.”

Testimony is expected to continue Tuesday in state District Judge George Gallagher’s court.

This story was originally published March 23, 2015 at 9:18 PM with the headline "Ex-husband killed in self-defense, attorney tells jurors."