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In her complaint, Jewell's wife said he struck her with his fists during a Bahamas vacation in 1996, knocking her across a bed. She also said her husband was verbally and physically abusive and threatened her by saying: "I will kill you and not bat an eye."

Jewell repeatedly accused her "of running around with other men," his wife said in her complaint. The couple were married July 23, 1994, and have no children together, the complaint said.

Neighbors say it was the second marriage for both and that Carolyn Jewell has two children at or near adulthood from a previous marriage who don't live at her home. The couple moved to the Canterbury subdivision in the 1990s as a halfway point between her job at UNC-Pembroke and his at N.C. State, said West, who lives across the street from the Jewells.

The couple were members of the Glad Tidings Church, an Assemblies of God congregation in Dunn, said the church's senior pastor, Rev. Timothy Rice. Carolyn Jewell sang in the choir.

"I was shocked and very saddened," he said. "Our hearts go out to the families that have been affected by this."

Jewell worked for N.C. State for more than two decades as a professor in the agricultural education department, according to information released by the Wake County public school system. It's unclear why he left NCSU in 1999. A university spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

Jewell spent three months in the spring of 1999 working as a science teacher for an alternative school in Harnett County. He was hired later that year by Wake County as a curriculum coordinator for Carroll Middle School in Raleigh. He remained in that position until he went to Southeast Raleigh High.

Caught off guard

Wake County school officials said they weren't aware of the investigation until Thursday afternoon when police notified them they intended to arrest Jewell at school, according to Michael Evans, of the district. Evans said the district's automated phone message system was used to reach parents.

West and another neighbor, retired banker Charlie Carpenter, struggled to match the charges with the couple they knew only in passing. "You know, you just never think anything like this will happen in your own neighborhood," said Carpenter, 71.

(Staff writer Sarah Ovaska and news researcher Becky Ogburn contributed to this report.)

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