MALTA, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say a 69-year-old retired police officer killed his wife inside their upstate New York home last week, then spent several days with the body.

Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy III says a sheriff’s deputy looking into the welfare of 65-year-old Kathleen Wilkinson on Sunday found her body on a bedroom floor in her home in the town of Malta, 20 miles north of Albany.

The say she was killed during a domestic dispute last week with her husband, Charles Wilkinson, a retired cop in Long Island’s Nassau County. Murphy says the man spent the weekend in the house with her body before letting the deputy into the home.

The time and cause of death haven’t been released.

Wilkinson has been charged with second-degree murder. Murphy doesn’t know whether Wilkinson has a lawyer.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.