A Massachusetts lady allegedly beat her former landlord to dying with a hammer and wrapped his physique in a curtain after he discovered she was forging checks in his identify and had stolen over $40,000, officers mentioned.
Xiu Fang Ke, 43, of Newton, was arrested and arraigned on a homicide cost Wednesday in reference to the dying of her former landlord Leonard Garber, 65, the Middlesex District Legal professional’s Workplace mentioned in an announcement Wednesday.
Garber’s household reported him lacking on Monday and Newton police visited his house to conduct a wellness test, however could not discover him. Police made two subsequent visits to his house on Tuesday and found his physique.
The physique was wrapped in a curtain and located beneath building supplies and different heavy objects, the discharge mentioned.
“Based mostly on the preliminary evaluation, it seems that the physique might have been there for greater than someday and that it had been positioned in such a means as to hide it,” officers mentioned.
It was later decided that Garber and Ke had been spending time collectively and that Ke had “allegedly been forging checks from the sufferer’s accounts,” stealing greater than $40,000, the discharge acknowledged.
When Garber turned conscious of the theft, he allegedly confronted Ke and “she allegedly struck and killed him after which tried to cover the physique.”
Within the investigation, police combed via monetary data and surveillance footage from Garber’s house, which confirmed an Asian feminine, later recognized as Ke, getting into his house within the days earlier than his physique was discovered.
Prosecutors mentioned Ke was a tenant of Garber’s a number of years in the past at a distinct property, not the place the assault passed off.
Ke allegedly confessed to the killing after she was known as to police headquarters — saying she used a hammer within the assault, prosecutors mentioned, based on NBC Boston.
“In the course of the interview the defendant admitted that she had stolen checks from Leonard Garber and that she had killed him,” Assistant District Legal professional Julie Kunkel mentioned in courtroom Wednesday. “She later acknowledged that she had used a hammer and hid his physique within the location the place it was finally discovered by police.”
Prosecutors additionally mentioned there was proof she had stolen checks earlier than and owed money owed.
“The defendant despatched out a message on a bunch chat admitting that she had stolen the cash, that she owed playing money owed and that she wished to finish her personal life,” Kunkel mentioned in courtroom.
Ke was ordered to be held with out bail Wednesday. It isn’t instantly clear if she has a lawyer.
