Whisper
May 17th, 2010, 12:56 AM
Spring man arrested in pregnant wife's death
Mother of three shot in driveway
Authorities on Sunday arrested an engineer following the death of his pregnant wife in the driveway of the northwest Harris County home where the couple recently moved with their three children.
“Neighbors heard screaming and loud gunfire,” Harris County homicide Sgt. Curtis Brown said. “They came outside and saw the man and woman in a physical struggle. The neighbors went to help and saw him with a handgun and ran back home.”
[...]
Police did not release the names of the victim or suspect.
Murder charges were pending against the man Sunday afternoon. Brown was unsure if prosecutors would upgrade charges to capital murder since the woman was about seven months pregnant. The unborn child, a girl due in July, also died.
Three children, ages 2, 8 and 10, were at their home in the 18700 block of Autumn Breeze when their mother was slain. Police are unsure whether they witnessed the shooting.
[...]
“I heard a woman screaming, ‘Help me! Somebody, please help me! What are you doing?'” said Gloria Hochanadel, who went outside to get a trash can around 10:30 a.m. Sunday when she was startled by cries for help and the sound of gunfire. “And then I heard the gunshots. There were four or five. There was no hesitation. They were bam, bam bam.”
Co-worker reacts
Hochanadel ran inside her home, alerted her husband and called 911. The couple went outside a short while later and saw police officers taking the suspect into custody, she said.
“I was so angry, I wanted to go down there and hit him,” said Steve Hochanadel, who works with the suspect at an oil-and-gas firm downtown. “I wish I had known what was going on. I might have been able to help.”
Both families relocated from Denver last fall, Steve Hochanadel said.
He said the man was pleasant and professional while in Denver. He noticed that he had recently been working late-night hours.
“I just found it strange that he was working those crazy hours,” Steve Hochanadel said. “There was just something different.”
Gloria Hochanadel said the victim was a sweet redhead from Wyoming who was involved at a nearby church. She spoke a few weeks ago about how excited she was to be having her fourth child.
“She told me she just had an ultrasound and they knew it was going to be a little girl,” Gloria said.
“She was upbeat, and said she was going out on a girls' night with friends that night to see a movie.”
Expressed happiness
Recently, the Hochanadels were on an evening stroll and saw the man also taking a walk. He, too, Gloria said, expressed happiness about the coming baby.
Neighbor Terri Elliott, who rented the family a home for a few months in the subdivision before they purchased their new home, described the suspect as a pleasant man who hugs rather than shakes hands but struck her as “very controlling.”
While the family was leasing the home it remained on the market, she said. When Elliott wanted to show the house to a potential buyer, the husband acted a little odd.
If one thing was out of order, he didn't want anyone looking at it,” Elliott said. “He was a nit-picker.http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7007679.html
http://i43.tinypic.com/73fo8y.jpg
Volker Maerz, left, chats with neighbors as authorities investigate a house where a pregnant woman was shot and killed Sunday morning in northern Harris County. Neighbors say the married woman was to soon give birth to a girl.
Mother of three shot in driveway
Authorities on Sunday arrested an engineer following the death of his pregnant wife in the driveway of the northwest Harris County home where the couple recently moved with their three children.
“Neighbors heard screaming and loud gunfire,” Harris County homicide Sgt. Curtis Brown said. “They came outside and saw the man and woman in a physical struggle. The neighbors went to help and saw him with a handgun and ran back home.”
[...]
Police did not release the names of the victim or suspect.
Murder charges were pending against the man Sunday afternoon. Brown was unsure if prosecutors would upgrade charges to capital murder since the woman was about seven months pregnant. The unborn child, a girl due in July, also died.
Three children, ages 2, 8 and 10, were at their home in the 18700 block of Autumn Breeze when their mother was slain. Police are unsure whether they witnessed the shooting.
[...]
“I heard a woman screaming, ‘Help me! Somebody, please help me! What are you doing?'” said Gloria Hochanadel, who went outside to get a trash can around 10:30 a.m. Sunday when she was startled by cries for help and the sound of gunfire. “And then I heard the gunshots. There were four or five. There was no hesitation. They were bam, bam bam.”
Co-worker reacts
Hochanadel ran inside her home, alerted her husband and called 911. The couple went outside a short while later and saw police officers taking the suspect into custody, she said.
“I was so angry, I wanted to go down there and hit him,” said Steve Hochanadel, who works with the suspect at an oil-and-gas firm downtown. “I wish I had known what was going on. I might have been able to help.”
Both families relocated from Denver last fall, Steve Hochanadel said.
He said the man was pleasant and professional while in Denver. He noticed that he had recently been working late-night hours.
“I just found it strange that he was working those crazy hours,” Steve Hochanadel said. “There was just something different.”
Gloria Hochanadel said the victim was a sweet redhead from Wyoming who was involved at a nearby church. She spoke a few weeks ago about how excited she was to be having her fourth child.
“She told me she just had an ultrasound and they knew it was going to be a little girl,” Gloria said.
“She was upbeat, and said she was going out on a girls' night with friends that night to see a movie.”
Expressed happiness
Recently, the Hochanadels were on an evening stroll and saw the man also taking a walk. He, too, Gloria said, expressed happiness about the coming baby.
Neighbor Terri Elliott, who rented the family a home for a few months in the subdivision before they purchased their new home, described the suspect as a pleasant man who hugs rather than shakes hands but struck her as “very controlling.”
While the family was leasing the home it remained on the market, she said. When Elliott wanted to show the house to a potential buyer, the husband acted a little odd.
If one thing was out of order, he didn't want anyone looking at it,” Elliott said. “He was a nit-picker.http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7007679.html
http://i43.tinypic.com/73fo8y.jpg
Volker Maerz, left, chats with neighbors as authorities investigate a house where a pregnant woman was shot and killed Sunday morning in northern Harris County. Neighbors say the married woman was to soon give birth to a girl.