Ex-Dolphin Charged With Murder

Former NFL player Jim Dunaway, who ended his 10-year NFL career on Miami's undefeated 1972 team, has been charged with murder in the death of his former wife.

The body of Nonniel Dunaway was found by a relative Monday night in the half-empty pool of a house she owned near the Cheraw community. An autopsy revealed that she had drowned.

However, Marion County coroner Norma Williams said the autopsy also revealed that the 56-year-old Dunaway had "suffered an open fracture to her skull and was unconscious when she was placed in the water."

Dunaway, 57, was taken in for questioning by Marion County sheriff's investigators early Tuesday. Charges were filed against him Wednesday night.

Dunaway was a letterman at Mississippi from 1960-62.

Dunaway played for Buffalo for nine seasons, in the AFL from 1963-69 and NFL from 1970-71. He finished his career playing for the Dolphins team that went 16-0 and won Super Bowl VII over Washington.

Marion County Justice Court Judge Sharon Hartfield set Dunaway's bond at $500,000 during his initial appearance Wednesday night. Dunaway remained in jail Thursday.

Dunaway has run a dairy in Marion County for more than 20 years. He and Nonniel Dunaway were divorced in 1995.

Nonniel Dunaway had worked as a substitute mail carrier for the Foxworth Post Office for the past 17 years.

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