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FAYETTE — Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested a man for allegedly killing his wife Thursday. The incident happened within a week of her retirement from a 40-year career at a local bank.

The cause of 62-year-old Katie M. Carradine’s death is unclear, Jefferson County Sheriff James Bailey said on Friday. Investigators are awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine what happened.

Bailey said he found her unresponsive inside her home in the 100 block of Matthew Road on Thursday morning. She didn’t appear to have any signs of trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene.

A dispatcher arrived at the sheriff’s office at approximately 7 a.m. Thursday and saw 55-year-old Jimmie Carradine, Katie’s husband, parked in the parking lot outside. He continued to sit outside the sheriff’s office for an hour and the dispatcher approached him to ask who he was and if he needed help, Bailey said.

He told the dispatcher that he needed to talk to Bailey or a deputy.

“He said, ‘I need someone to go by my house and check on my wife — I lost it,’” Bailey said.

Jimmie Carradine did not tell authorities what condition his wife was in, but when asked if she was dead he said she might be, Bailey said. Officers were then dispatched to their residence, where Katie Carradine was found deceased in her bed.

Jimmie Carradine has been charged with first degree murder, Bailey said.

The incident comes less than a week after Katie Carradine’s retirement from United Mississippi Bank in Fayette. She retired Friday, July 30, after working there for 40 years, Bailey said.

“I’ve known her for years,” he said. “She was a nice, loving and beautiful person who greeted everyone with a smile.”

Bailey added the couple had been married more than 20 years. Bailey described Jimmie Carradine as a “nice gentleman” who has “never been arrested for anything.”

“It was very upsetting and heartbreaking,” he said.