Investigators say the surviving woman was injured while trying to stop an attack that killed her husband, Stephen McCarty.
REDDICK, Fla. — A Florida woman who had welcomed a longtime friend into the home she shared with her husband ended the night struggling to take a knife away from that same guest, suffering an injury as she tried to stop an attack that authorities say killed 39-year-old Stephen McCarty.
The surviving woman’s actions form a central part of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office account of the Sept. 19 killing. Investigators say she called 911, returned inside after hearing trouble, found McCarty badly injured and then physically confronted Amy Hogg, 33, as the attack continued. The woman eventually disarmed Hogg before deputies arrived. Hogg was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. She has not been convicted, and the accusations against her remain allegations.
Hours earlier, the relationship between the women was described in strikingly different terms. Hogg was not an unknown visitor or someone investigators say forced her way into the residence. The woman described Hogg as a family friend, and reports based on the arrest affidavit called the pair longtime best friends. Ocala-News reported that Hogg had been invited to the home on West Highway 318 while dealing with a stressful living situation. The gathering included McCarty, his wife and Hogg, with the three spending the evening eating, consuming alcohol and playing a game.
The arrest affidavit cited by Law&Crime says dinner included jalapeño poppers, cheese sticks and chicken wings. Those menu details drew attention in the first coverage, but investigators’ more consequential point was the progression from a social evening to a personal dispute. According to deputies, Hogg became intoxicated and accused her friend of having been involved with Hogg’s boyfriend. The alleged relationship has not been independently established, and nothing in the public reporting reviewed shows that investigators confirmed the accusation. It appears in the record as something Hogg allegedly said during the conflict.
The argument escalated when Hogg allegedly pushed the other woman. McCarty intervened and separated them, investigators said. His wife then went outside, an action the reports describe as an effort to create distance and calm the situation. For a time, the two women were no longer confronting each other directly. That separation is important to the chronology because the next reported conflict involved Hogg and McCarty while his wife was away from the room.
McCarty’s wife soon heard yelling from inside. According to accounts of the arrest report, she either heard McCarty tell her to call 911 or became concerned enough by the argument to make the call herself before going back inside. When she returned, she found McCarty on the floor bleeding and gasping for air. At that point, the emergency call became a running account of what she said was happening in front of her. The later release of audio from the call allowed portions of her description to be independently heard by reporters.
Her attention was divided between communicating with the dispatcher and physically preventing further harm. In the released recording, she told the 911 operator that Hogg was trying to stab McCarty again. She also said she had hold of Hogg’s hand and that Hogg was trying to stab her. Authorities say Hogg continued attacking McCarty while mocking the woman’s efforts to help him. The call captured threats and hostile remarks attributed to Hogg, while the wife repeatedly tried to stop the violence.
The surviving woman then fought Hogg for control of the knife, investigators said. Ocala-News, citing the arrest report, reported that she suffered a wound to her forearm during the struggle. The same account said she forced Hogg to release the knife by repeatedly striking Hogg’s hand against a kitchen cabinet. The sheriff’s office confirmed more generally that the woman was injured while disarming Hogg. Her action ended Hogg’s possession of the weapon before deputies reached the residence, according to investigators.
That part of the account gives the aggravated battery charge its separate factual basis. The second-degree murder count concerns McCarty’s death, while prosecutors accuse Hogg of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in connection with the attack on the surviving woman. Marion County Fire Rescue treated the woman at the scene. Public reports reviewed for this article do not provide detailed medical information about her injury or identify long-term complications, and her name has generally been withheld from coverage.
Deputies were dispatched at approximately 3:15 a.m. and found McCarty suffering from multiple wounds. They immediately detained Hogg, who remained at the scene, and emergency personnel attempted to save McCarty. He died at the residence. Hogg was later transported to a hospital for treatment of what one local report described as minor injuries. After she was medically cleared, authorities transferred her to the Marion County Jail. Reports following the arrest said she was being held without bond.
McCarty initially was not publicly identified in the early coverage. WCJB later confirmed his name and age, reporting that Marion County deputies said Hogg was accused of killing him during the argument at his home. Law&Crime reported that McCarty had retired from the U.S. Army in 2023. The sources reviewed do not provide further verified details about his military career, and authorities have not released a broad biographical profile of him. His wife’s account and the emergency recording instead remain the primary public sources describing the final sequence inside the house.
One of the most disturbing moments described in the probable cause affidavit came after McCarty became unresponsive. Law&Crime reported that Hogg said, “Yeah he’s done,” while McCarty’s wife was pleading for help. The sheriff’s office characterized Hogg as mocking the woman during the attack. Those statements are attributed to investigators and the recording; they are not presented as an independent finding about Hogg’s state of mind. Determining what the evidence proves about intent is ultimately part of the criminal case, not a conclusion that can be reached merely from the language attributed to her.
Florida law classifies the charged offenses separately. Second-degree murder under the provision relevant to the public booking information can involve an unlawful killing carried out through an imminently dangerous act showing a depraved mind regardless of human life, without a premeditated design to kill a particular person. Aggravated battery can include committing a battery with a deadly weapon. Those definitions describe what the state would have to establish under the charged statutes; they do not substitute for evidence or overcome Hogg’s presumption of innocence.
The personal accusation that deputies say preceded the violence remains only one part of the investigative narrative. Authorities say Hogg accused McCarty’s wife of sleeping with Hogg’s boyfriend, but no report reviewed establishes that accusation as fact. There also is no publicly reported evidence in the reviewed material showing that McCarty was involved in the underlying dispute before he stepped in to separate the women. The available chronology instead describes him first as an intervening spouse, then as the person arguing with Hogg after his wife had gone outside, and finally as the victim found on the floor.
What began with one woman offering a longtime friend a place to stay ended with that woman injured, her husband dead and the guest under arrest, according to investigators. No later court resolution was identified in the sources reviewed. Hogg continues to face charges stemming from both alleged victims, while McCarty’s wife remains the surviving eyewitness whose 911 call and account form a major part of the public record.
Author note: Last updated November 7, 2026.