Jenean Chapman’s neighbors say they heard former aide to Sarah Ferguson screaming at Dallas apartment before she was murdered ‘by husband James Patrick’

Neighbors of a murdered former aide to the British royal family say they allegedly heard her in ‘screaming’ fights with her husband – who has now been arrested for her murder.

Jenean Chapman, former assistant to Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, was found allegedly strangled in her luxury apartment in Dallas, Texas on Monday.

Another resident of the 34th-floor apartment downtown said they encountered police in the hallway Monday afternoon and smelled a foul odor.

Neighbors told DailyMail.com that Chapman, 46, and her husband of two months, James Patrick, 48, became constantly involved in explosive fights with shouting heard in the hallway.

“They were arguing a lot,” said Jonathan Davis, 32. “All I could hear was her screaming. She screamed loudly and often. I remember thinking, man, if I were him, I’d leave her. But apparently he chose a different route.

‘On Monday I walked in and saw the police outside. I thought, are they fighting again? Nobody answered me. I didn’t find out she had been murdered until a few days later.’

A female neighbor, who asked not to be named, said she noticed a stench coming from Chapman and Patrick’s apartment after police arrived.

“I got out of the elevator to go to my apartment and was hit by a horrible smell,” she said. ‘The manager and the police were all in the hallway.

‘It was just very awkward. I was a little shocked to my core. I mean, I couldn’t stay in my apartment for a week, I was staying with my friends.’

The woman added that she did not know the boisterous couple well, but often heard them fighting loudly.

‘While I was waiting at the elevator, I heard them fighting. They both scream. But I never paid much attention to it; people are fighting.”

Commenting on the possibility that her neighbor was a murderer, she said: ‘I am shocked that such a person can live next to me. It’s terrible.’

Davis said that after reading Chapman’s family’s account of their “toxic” on-and-off relationship, he was less shocked.

‘Of course it’s a surprise when something like this happens. But given what I understand happened between the two, it’s less of a surprise,” he said.

Patrick was arrested Wednesday, 200 miles away in Austin. Chapman’s family said police were alerted when he checked himself into a hospital there.

The Travis County Sheriff’s Office online inmate locator says he is still in custody there.

Despite being married to Chapman since July, he describes himself on his Facebook page with the phrase: ‘Disco….. sleeze….single off’ and had his relationship status as ‘single’.

Chapman worked as personal assistant to the Duchess of York in the early 2000s.

Prince Andrew’s ex-wife Ferguson posted a statement about her former co-worker Instagram page on Friday She said she “heard from her just a few months ago” and promised to help pay for funeral expenses.

On Saturday, DailyMail.com published audio from the Dallas Police Department radio showing the moment officers came across Chapman’s body.

Shortly after 1:30 PM on Monday, the dispatcher can be heard saying, “It’s a black woman. They said they haven’t heard from her since Wednesday. She and her husband had a house (inaudible).”

Just over 15 minutes later, the female officer radioed the bad news. “It’s definitely going to be a 27,” she said, using the police code for an attempted crime. “We need a (inaudible) crime scene.”

An officer adds that they “need a supervisor to start here at 1401 Elm” — and even mentions the word “murder.”

The Dallas County Medical Examiner has not yet determined the cause of death, although sources told the local ABC affiliate WFAA channel 8 “It appeared that Chapman had been strangled.”

Chapman lived with Patrick in a 1,157-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment in the luxury hotel and residential tower The National.

A 2021 rental listing for a one-bedroom apartment on the 43rd floor was priced at $3,150 per month.

Chapman, who worked in digital marketing, moved five months ago from San Francisco, where Patrick previously lived.

Photos obtained by DailyMail.com from an advertisement for her 34th-floor apartment show panoramic city views and mid-century modern furnishings.

Chapman’s family said their relationship was “rocky” and “toxic,” and had been on and off for six years. They were surprised to learn this summer that the couple had eloped without their knowledge.