Stephen McCarty was killed after intervening in a dispute involving his wife and their houseguest, according to Marion County investigators.
REDDICK, Fla. — The man killed during an early-morning confrontation at a Marion County home has been identified as Stephen McCarty, 39, a former U.S. Army member who investigators say stepped into an argument between his wife and a longtime friend hours before the dispute became a fatal stabbing.
McCarty’s identity emerged after the first reports of the Sept. 19 killing had described him only as the male victim. Amy Hogg, 33, of Crescent City, was arrested at the home and charged with second-degree murder in his death and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in connection with injuries to his wife. Hogg is accused, not convicted, and the criminal charges remain allegations. The latest reporting reviewed for this account did not identify a trial or other final resolution of the case.
Before the violence, investigators described a gathering that carried few outward signs of what would follow. Hogg had been invited to stay with the couple and was described in reports as a family friend and as McCarty’s wife’s longtime best friend. The three ate, drank alcohol and spent time together at the house on West Highway 318. An arrest affidavit reported by Law&Crime said their meal included jalapeño poppers, cheese sticks and chicken wings before they played cards. Ocala-News described the visit as an attempt by the woman to give Hogg a place to decompress from a stressful living situation.
That context places the alleged attack inside an existing personal relationship rather than a chance encounter. According to deputies, Hogg became intoxicated and began arguing with McCarty’s wife. Investigators say Hogg accused her friend of having been involved with Hogg’s boyfriend. Public reports do not establish that the accusation was true. What matters to the criminal chronology is that authorities say the accusation fueled a verbal confrontation that became physical. Hogg allegedly pushed the other woman, and McCarty intervened to separate them.
McCarty’s role at that stage was described as an attempt to break up the conflict. According to the arrest report, he directed his wife to go outside so the women would be apart. She did so, leaving McCarty and Hogg inside the home. A short time later, she heard the two arguing. In one account, McCarty called for her to contact 911. The woman placed the emergency call and then went back into the residence, where investigators say she found her husband already bleeding and gasping for air.
The situation she reported to dispatchers was no longer a disagreement that might be calmed. Authorities say Hogg continued stabbing McCarty while his wife was on the phone. The surviving woman tried to stop the attack herself while keeping the dispatcher informed. Audio from the call, obtained later by WCJB, records the woman telling the operator that Hogg was trying to stab McCarty again. She also said she was holding Hogg’s hand and that Hogg was trying to attack her. The recording provides a contemporaneous account from inside the home during part of the struggle.
Investigators also say Hogg could be heard making threatening and taunting statements while McCarty’s wife pleaded for help. Law&Crime, citing the probable cause affidavit, reported that after McCarty became unresponsive, Hogg said, “Yeah he’s done.” The sheriff’s office separately said Hogg mocked the woman’s pleas during the attack. The details have drawn attention because emergency dispatchers were able to hear portions of the encounter as it happened, but the case remains a criminal prosecution in which evidence must be tested through the court process.
McCarty’s wife then became physically involved in stopping the attack, according to authorities. She struggled with Hogg for the knife and was injured in the process. Ocala-News, relying on the arrest report, said she suffered a wound to her forearm and repeatedly struck Hogg’s hand against a kitchen cabinet until Hogg released the weapon. The sheriff’s office said the woman ultimately disarmed Hogg. Marion County Fire Rescue treated her injuries after deputies arrived. Available reports do not give a detailed account of her recovery.
Deputies reached the West Highway 318 residence at about 3:15 a.m. They found McCarty with multiple wounds, detained Hogg and began efforts to help the injured man. Emergency responders were unable to save him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The sheriff’s office later said Hogg was taken to a hospital for treatment before she was medically cleared and transferred to the Marion County Jail. Her presence at the house when deputies arrived meant authorities did not announce a search for an unidentified suspect or describe the case as involving a person who had fled.
McCarty’s name was released in later reporting along with his age. Law&Crime reported that he had retired from the U.S. Army in 2023. The sources reviewed do not provide enough verified information to describe his assignments, length of service, rank or the circumstances of his retirement, so those details remain outside the established public account. His military background is one part of his identity, but the criminal case has centered primarily on what investigators say occurred inside his home during the final minutes before deputies were summoned.
The charge against Hogg in McCarty’s death is second-degree murder. Florida’s 2026 murder statute describes one form of second-degree murder as an unlawful killing caused by an act imminently dangerous to another and demonstrating a depraved mind regardless of human life, without a premeditated design to kill a particular person. That statutory language explains the offense prosecutors accuse Hogg of committing; it does not establish her guilt. There has been no reported adjudication in the sources reviewed that would permit the allegations to be stated as proven facts.
The second count, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, relates to the surviving woman. Florida law defines aggravated battery to include a battery in which a deadly weapon is used. Investigators say McCarty’s wife was injured while trying to take the knife away from Hogg, and authorities charged Hogg after interviewing witnesses and reviewing what happened at the scene. The separation of the two charges reflects the two alleged victims: McCarty, who died, and his wife, who survived the confrontation.
The accounts released by investigators have also been careful to place the alleged dispute over Hogg’s boyfriend in its proper evidentiary position. Authorities say Hogg accused McCarty’s wife of a relationship with him, but public reporting has not established the allegation as true and does not show that investigators independently verified it. It is therefore more accurate to describe the accusation as part of the argument investigators believe preceded the stabbing rather than as a settled explanation for why McCarty was killed.
For McCarty’s family, the criminal case follows a death that transformed a private gathering among friends into a homicide investigation before dawn. Public reporting has identified McCarty and documented the charges against Hogg, but it has not established a final court outcome. The next legal resolution therefore remains unsettled, with Hogg facing the two felony counts while the allegations await adjudication.
Author note: Last updated November 7, 2026.