Dad called uncle to pick up kids after he killed their mom with an ax and fled the state: Police

Inset: Scott R. Thompson (Rusk County Jail). Background: The area in Texas where Thompson allegedly killed his wife (Google Maps).

A 47-year-old man in Texas is accused of killing his wife, allegedly striking her in the head with an ax before locking her body inside their family home while the kids were at school.

Scott Raymond Thompson was taken into custody this week and charged with one count of first-degree murder in the slaying of Amanda Thompson, court records show.

According to a probable cause affidavit from the Rusk County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to the 5900 block of County Road 3122 at 2 p.m. on March 18 in regard to a welfare check request from one of Thompson's family members.

The caller identified himself as Thompson's uncle and told the dispatcher that Thompson had just called and said "he had killed his wife with an axe" and then "left her in the hall and locked her in."

The uncle went on to state that Thompson "wanted him to pick his kids up at school" that day and bring them to a different location "so they would not go into the home" and find their mother's body.

Upon arriving at the address, deputies said they could "observe blood through the backdoor window in the hallway" that led into the kitchen.

Deputies decided the "exigent circumstances" presented by the scene required them to make a forceful entry into the home.

"Upon entry, [the deputies] observed a deceased white female lying beside the back door with wounds consistent with sharp force trauma to the back of her head and a large amount of blood surrounding the body," the affidavit states. The victim was later identified as Amanda Thompson.

The sheriff's office said that after brutally killing his wife, Scott Thompson fled from the scene in a car, according to reporting from Nacogdoches, Texas, CBS affiliate KYTX. Investigators put out an APB on the vehicle, which soon pinged in Atlanta, Texas. Scott Thompson was reportedly located in Pope County, Arkansas, and taken into custody later that day by Arkansas State Police.

Scott Thompson has since been extradited back to Texas to face the murder charge, Waco, Texas, CBS affiliate KWTX reported.

Scott Thompson is currently being held in the Rusk County Jail. Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Jana Enloe subsequently ordered him to remain in custody in lieu of $1.5 million bond.