An Aston woman who fatally stabbed her longtime boyfriend said she acted in self-defense

The lawyer for an Aston woman who police say fatally stabbed her boyfriend in August said Wednesday that she was a victim of domestic abuse who had acted in self-defense.

Beth Peterson, 35, is charged with first- and third-degree murder in the death of Matthew Wilcox, 39.

Prosecutors say she intentionally stabbed Wilcox in the chest with a steak knife as they argued in the home they shared on Blackthorne Lane.

“With a stab wound to the heart, the only thing that can be inferred is that your intention was murder,” First Assistant District Attorney Tanner Rouse said during a preliminary hearing Wednesday. “That was a kill shot.”

Text messages recovered from Peterson’s phone showed that she had sent multiple messages to friends and relatives, saying she wished he were dead, Rouse said, most recently about 13 days before the fatal stabbing.

Magisterial District Court Judge Diane M. Holefelder upheld the charges against Peterson and sent the case to the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas.

» READ MORE: Aston woman fatally stabbed boyfriend with a steak knife during an argument, police said

Aston Township Police Officer Michael Wiley testified that he arrived at the couple’s home about 7 p.m. on Aug. 28 in response to a call for a stabbing and cardiac arrest. There, he said, he found Peterson performing CPR on Wilcox, who was lying, unresponsive, on the kitchen floor. She admitted to stabbing him, Wiley said.

Wilcox was taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. He had suffered a single stab wound, which had punctured his heart and caused massive internal bleeding, according to evidence presented during the hearing. The murder weapon, a steak knife, was found in the kitchen sink nearby.

Peterson told Wiley that Wilcox had “come at her” during an argument, and that she had gotten him to back off, the officer said. When Wilcox approached Peterson a second time, Wiley said she told him, she stabbed Wilcox with the knife.

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Peterson’s lawyer, John Rooney, said Wednesday that she never intended to kill Wilcox, and accidentally dealt the fatal wound while trying to defend herself. On that basis, he asked the judge to dismiss the first-degree murder charge.

“We have a single stab wound to the heart, which appears to be a very unlucky shot,” Rooney said. “Somebody who has a fully formed intent to kill does not call 911 or try to perform life-saving measures.”

Rooney said Peterson, a pediatric nurse at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Delaware, is a respected member of her community who had never before been arrested. Her family and friends, many of whom packed into the courtroom Wednesday, told detectives she and Wilcox had a “toxic” relationship, and that Peterson had told them he was abusive.

“It’s a tragedy that Mr. Wilcox is dead, but it’s a tragedy that Beth is locked up, facing life in jail for his murder. There’s no way that should be,” Rooney said. “And that’s how interpersonal family violence ends; it ends in tragedy.”

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Rouse, the prosecutor, asserted that Peterson’s behavior went beyond self-defense.

“There is not a nick on her, but there is a stab wound to his heart. That is not an ‘unlucky shot,’” Rouse said. “There are plenty of places you can wound someone to get them away from you, if that is your intention.”

Peterson is scheduled to be arraigned before a county judge on Dec. 6.