A Hudson, Wisconsin man was sentenced to 40 years combined prison time and supervision this week for killing his wife with a knife inside their townhome last year, a crime that followed a three-hour standoff with police. Chad Aaron Haworth, listed in sentencing coverage as 56 years old, was ordered to serve 32 years in prison followed by eight years of extended supervision for the March 5, 2025 killing of Carmen Haworth, who was 54.
St. Croix County Circuit Court Judge R. Michael Waterman handed down the sentence, according to Pioneer Press, which reported Haworth pleaded guilty on July 22, 2026.
An earlier KSTP report had listed Chad Haworth's age as 54 at the time of his arrest, a discrepancy with the 56 years old cited in the more recent sentencing coverage.
A Welfare Check Turns Into a Standoff
The case began the morning of March 5, 2025, when Haworth called Hudson police just after 11 a.m. to report suspicions that his wife was cheating on him or possibly poisoning him, though he later said he had no evidence to support those suspicions. Hudson police were then dispatched that afternoon to the couple's townhome in the 1600 block of Namekagon Street, with WEAU reporting officers were called for a welfare check at 3:09 p.m. An officer who first spoke with Haworth wrote that the initial conversation raised no concerns about his or his wife's well-being, according to the criminal complaint.
Haworth called 911 himself shortly after 3 p.m. that day. On the call, he told dispatch that his wife's lover had obtained his iPhone password and deleted his statements, the complaint states. When officers returned to the home, Haworth told one of them that his wife was no longer with them and had been dead for roughly half an hour, and he said he had a gun at the door. Six officers ultimately decided to enter the townhome to check on her.
What followed was a three-hour standoff involving the St. Croix County Emergency Response Unit before Haworth left the townhome and surrendered. Officers found Carmen Haworth dead on a bed with a knife wound to her neck; the Pioneer Press report from the time of the arrest described a large cut to her neck. Haworth had blood on his pants and hands when he was taken into custody, and he later told police he had snapped and killed his wife. He also said his knife was incredibly sharp and that his 26-year-old son would be all alone.
Competency Findings and a Prior Incident in Minnesota
After his arrest, Haworth was evaluated and found competent to face the charges, WEAU reported, and he was later bound over for trial following a preliminary hearing, with an arraignment that had been scheduled for July 7, 2025. He pleaded guilty on July 22, 2026.
Court records referenced in coverage of the case point to a history of volatility. Burnsville, Minnesota police responded to a weapons-related incident at Haworth's home on Christmas Day 2020, when he reported that his wife had pulled a knife on him and that he had threatened to shoot her; Burnsville police determined at the time that a serious crime had not been committed. Haworth later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor misuse of 911 in March 2021, and he was civilly committed as mentally ill for six months beginning in April 2022.
Pioneer Press noted that the Haworth case marked the second homicide within four days in St. Croix County allegedly committed by a victim's husband, though details of that separate case were not included in the sentencing report. No information on parole eligibility or any appeal in the Haworth case has been made public.
