NORTON COUNTY — A Norton man accused in the murder of his wife made his first court appearance Monday afternoon, according to the Kansas Attorney General’s office.

Damien L. Shields, 42, Norton, is charged with the first-degree murder of 38-year-old Lori Shields. She was found dead April 7 in her home in Norton, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Shields was arrested the following day in Cape Girardeau, Mo., when police responded to a hotel after receiving a call for help.

Shields was hospitalized in Cape Girardeau for injuries that appeared to be self-inflicted. He was later booked into the Cape Girardeau County jail and then extradited to Norton on April 13, according to the sheriff’s department.  He remains jailed on a $1 million dollar bond.

He has three previous convictions for domestic battery, aggravated battery and violation of a protection order, according to the Kansas Department of Correction. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing April 29.

Lori Shields was a secretary at Eisenhower Elementary School in Norton. Friends have established a GoFundMe account to assist her three children.