HOUSTON — The wife of a Texas judge is behind bars after an alleged argument over her nephew-in-law’s extended visit turned deadly.
Mei Huang Wolfe, 48, of Katy, is charged with murder in the death of 40-year-old James Wolfe II, according to Harris County Sheriff’s Office officials. Online records show Mei Wolfe is in the Harris County Jail, where she is being held in lieu of $100,000.
Mei Wolfe is the wife of Harris County Justice of the Peace Bob Wolfe, who was home at the time of the homicide, ABC 13 in Houston reported.
Deputies were called around 9:20 p.m. Thursday to the Wolfe home on Tesino River Circle, where they found James Wolfe with a fatal gunshot wound. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told reporters at the scene that James Wolfe, who had recently graduated from college, had been traveling recently but had returned to the Houston area to live with family.
He had been staying with Bob and Mei Wolfe for an undisclosed amount of time.
“It may have been a situation where the female homeowner felt that he wasn’t welcome anymore, and a disturbance broke out over that,” Gonzalez said. “She retrieved a pistol and something happened during the altercation, and she fired a shot, striking the nephew.”
KHOU-TV reported that Bob Wolfe called 911 and tried to break up the argument before the shooting. He disarmed his wife after she fired the shot.
James Wolfe died at the scene.
Mei Wolfe made her first court appearance Saturday morning. A judge ordered her to surrender any weapons and, if released while awaiting trial, to turn over her passport, ABC 13 reported.