TOMS RIVER - Arthur Haskoor said he told his wife of 22 years he deserved half of the marital assets in their upcoming divorce, but he was willing to compromise and accept 45 percent.

They had $1 million in the bank, he said.

Then, his wife, Susanne, who held a lucrative job with Bank of America while he stayed home and raised their two sons, said she wanted 60 percent in the divorce, and they argued, he said.

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She brought up her husband’s previous stay in a psychiatric hospital and called him a derogatory term, Arthur Haskoor said.

“I think she said something like, ‘piece of s---,’ and then she hit me, and I hit her and I dragged her," Arthur Haskoor said. “I might have punched her a couple times. I know it ended up on the sidewalk in front of the house."

That’s where he said he choked his wife and stabbed her with a buck knife.

“I can’t tell you how many times it was," he said of the stabbing.

He couldn’t say where on the body he had stabbed his wife.

“I think it was her face, but at that point, it was a moot point," Haskoor said.

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That’s what Haskoor, 61, told Detectives John Murphy and Brant Uricks on Aug. 31, 2015, six days after 48-year-old Susanne Haskoor was found dead in the driveway of the family’s home on Evergreen Road in Plumsted.

An Ocean County jury on Monday watched a videotape of the detectives questioning Haskoor that day, at Haskoor’s trial for his wife’s murder.

The videotape was played with Murphy on the witness stand for the state. Murphy works for the Major Crimes Unit of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. Uricks at the time of the killing was a detective in Plumsted and now also works for the prosecutor’s office.

Haskoor on the videotape was dressed in a hospital gown. He often paused and frequently stuttered and repeated phrases such as, “just like, just like," when answering the detectives’ questions. He also rambled about fishing.

At the time he was questioned at Plumsted police headquarters, Haskoor had just been released from Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton, where he was flown by helicopter when police found him unconscious in his garage, suffering from an overdose of prescription drugs.

That was after the Haskoor’s youngest son, Jake, now 21, came home Aug. 25, 2015, and found his mother bloodied and dead in their driveway, with a knife nearby and a note on the door to their house, in his father’s handwriting, that said, “Do not come in. I have guns. I will kill you."

Six days later, the detectives questioned Haskoor about why he wrote that note.

“All I know is, I wanted time for the meds to happen, I wanted time for the meds to take effect without being bothered," he responded.

He couldn’t say whether that was before or after he opened his safe that contained a gun, although the detectives informed him that he had shot off a round.

“I don’t remember it," he told them.

Several times during the interview, Haskoor told the detectives he had no short-term memory. They told him he was found in his garage in his underwear.

“I was in my garage in my underwear?" he asked them. “I have no recollection of that."

Haskoor explained to the detectives why he was upset about the status of his divorce negotiations.

“I never took a vacation without them," he said. “I never went out drinking. I never went out with friends. I stayed at home. That’s why in my mind of minds, it’s equal — it’s fifty-fifty, but I’m willing to give you 55-45, and now you want 60-40?"

Detectives questioned him about a large amount of money he had in a safe.

“I left it for my kids," he responded. “It was in my tool box."

The detectives asked Haskoor if he had anything to say to his two teenage sons. He responded, “Sorry."

They asked him what he would do if he could go back in time.

“If I could go back in time, I’d be dead," he responded. “Dead, just dead. I tried two or three years ago. I wish it worked two or three years ago. It didn’t."

After the videotaped interview was played for the jury, Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan told the jurors that if they find Haskoor had attempted suicide, they can consider whether he did so to evade arrest and if the suicide attempt revealed a consciousness of guilt. Or, he said, Haskoor’s defense attorney, while he is not required to, could offer another reason for a suicide attempt.

Haskoor’s attorney, Deputy Assistant Public Defender Richard Archer, has argued self-defense, claiming that his client was first attacked with a weapon. He could begin presenting his case Tuesday.

Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues, unsolved mysteries and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com; 732-643-4202.