Herndon man says he killed wife; police find female body in suitcase
By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 12, 2009
A man showed up at Herndon police headquarters Friday morning with a note saying he had killed his wife, police said, and when officers went to the couple's apartment, they found a woman's body stuffed inside a suitcase on the apartment balcony.
The 36-year-old woman's name was not released, pending notification of her family. Police think she was strangled, Lt. Jeff Coulter said, and her body was not dismembered or otherwise harmed. She apparently was small enough to fit inside a large suitcase, police said.
The man, Jamie A. Kuhne, 34, was charged with murder. He is being held in the Fairfax County jail.
The couple have a 1-year-old son. Police said Kuhne apparently took the boy to day care early Friday, then drove to the police station shortly after 7 a.m. and turned himself in.
Police retrieved the boy and placed him with Child Protective Services while they tried to find relatives to care for him, Coulter said.
The boy was unharmed. Police think he was probably in the apartment, in the Stuart Woods II complex just off Herndon Parkway, when his mother was killed, either late Thursday or early Friday, Coulter said.
Detectives think the killing occurred after an argument between Kuhne and the woman inside their third-floor apartment on Tamarack Way.
Neighbors said they frequently saw the woman, who they said was Chinese, and the baby walking around the complex. One neighbor said the little boy had just learned to walk.
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"She was just a really sweet lady," said Allison Kirsch, who lives nearby. "We always saw them out walking around. He's a happy little boy. She loved her son a whole lot."
Police records, however, indicate that there was some discord in the apartment. Herndon police were called there in October 2008 and again last month for reported domestic disputes, Coulter said.
In addition, a woman apparently called police from the apartment in August and reported that a domestic incident had happened in the District, Coulter said. The caller was referred to D.C. police.
No one was charged in any of the reported incidents, according to Coulter and court records. Court records indicate that the couple married in August 2007.
Kuhne walked in the front door of Herndon police headquarters on Herndon Parkway, Coulter said. "He came over to one of our dispatchers and handed her the note," Coulter said. Coulter declined to disclose the note's contents.
Plenty of officers were in the building at 7 a.m., the time of Herndon's police shift change, which made it easy for Kuhne to be taken promptly into custody, Coulter said. "And the detectives took it from there," he said.
Officers were sent to the family's apartment and discovered the woman inside the suitcase, Coulter said.
Police and neighbors said the victim appeared to be a stay-at-home mom.
Police confirmed that Kuhne worked for the Minerals Management Service, a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior, which has offices on Elden Street in Herndon. Kuhne had a Web page on LinkedIn, an online professional networking site, which said he was a presidential management fellow for the service, but the agency did not respond to inquiries yesterday.
Kuhne is a two-time graduate of George Mason University. School officials confirmed that he graduated magna cum laude with an undergraduate degree in 2006 and then obtained a master's degree last year from the School of Public Policy. He was a student in the international commerce and policy program, according to the school's Web site and Kuhne's LinkedIn page.
Police were awaiting an autopsy on the body. Hers is the first homicide in Herndon since October 2007, when Juan Jose Alvarenga Alvarenga, 23, was stabbed outside a party on Alabama Drive. A man charged in Alvarenga's death, Luis Miguel Abrego Romero, is at large.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/11/AR2009121102995_2.html?sub=AR
Another link for this news, (with Jamie A. Kuhne's photo)
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/12/14/crimesider/entry5977157.shtml