Federal Way resident Kermit M. Stewart, 63, was charged Thursday with first-degree manslaughter of his wife, Cheri Stewart.

Cheri was found dead in the couple’s bathroom June 22 after her employer came to investigate why she had not shown for work in five days. An apartment manager at Campus Landing Apartments, 32210 1st Lane Southwest, entered the apartment the victim and her suspect shared. The manager found Stewart lying on the bathroom floor, with disheveled clothing and dried blood on her hands and face, according to court documents. Her husband was found on the couple’s bed.

An autopsy revealed Cheri Stewart, 63, suffered a broken nose, small laceration to her lip and contusion to the back of her head, according to court documents. She likely died from blood loss, possibly resulting from the broken nose, according to court documents. Stewart took blood thinners due to a heart attack she had several years earlier.

She died from her injuries on June 16, according to court documents. Kermit Stewart told police he and his wife argued over a missing military identification that night. He grabbed her and threw her to the floor, causing her to cut her lip, according to court documents. Following the incident, the victim sat at the table bleeding and smoking cigarettes and drinking wine, Kermit Stewart told authorities, according to court paperwork. Kermit told police he then took anti-depressants and passed out, leaving Cheri to deal with her own injuries.

When he awoke, his wife was dead in the bathroom, he told police. Kermit did not call police because his wife looked like “I beat the hell out of her” and he did not want to be blamed for the death, according to court documents.

Police found a large blood stain and several smaller blood stains throughout the couple’s apartment, according to court documents. Two shower curtains were found to have been spread out and placed on the floor between the dining and den area; one curtain had blood stains on it, according to the same documents. Stewart told police he did not move his wife’s body into the bathroom.

Stewart has a 2005 Domestic violence assault in the fourth degree charge. The crime took place against Cheri Stewart. He told police because of this charge, he thought he would be blamed for her death, according to court documents. He also said he had tried multiple times that week to kill himself after he found his deceased wife, according to the same paperwork.

Kermit Stewart is being held on $1 million bail.