Friday, November 23, 2012
Roanoke police arrest man in wife's slaying
Claude Ndumurwanko has been charged in the death Wednesday of his wife at their residence.
The husband of a woman found dead in a southwest Roanoke home early Wednesday has been charged with her homicide.
Police announced early Thursday afternoon that Claude Ndumurwanko, 44, had been arrested and is being held in the Roanoke City Jail. He is accused of killing Mariam Ndarugiriye, 40.
Just after 2 a.m. Wednesday, officers were called to the couple's house in the 1300 block of Salem Avenue.
Investigators had to break a window to gain access to their Hurt Park residence because the door was padlocked from the inside. The couple's eight children, who range in age from 4 to 21, were unable to open the door themselves, but were unhurt.
Ndarugiriye was discovered fatally stabbed in an upstairs bedroom. Detectives said they believe Ndumurwanko killed her, then attempted suicide by trying to hang himself with a rope in his basement. They said he was found lying on the cellar floor, unresponsive, and said it appeared that his adult son - found standing near him and holding a knife - had cut the rope to save his father's life.
Ndumurwanko was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital and on Wednesday afternoon a hospital spokesman said he could not release information on him. It remains unclear when Ndumurwanko was discharged from the hospital.
Few details about Claude Ndumurwanko and his family have come to light since the incident.
An acquaintance said they arrived in Roanoke several years ago after immigrating from Africa, where they lived at least for a time in Tanzania.
They moved into the house on Salem Avenue late last year and attended Our Lady of Nazareth Catholic Church on Virginia 419.
A former soccer instructor said Wednesday that he coached two of Ndumurwanko's sons at William Fleming High School.
Aside from a 2009 traffic violation in Salem, Ndumurwanko has no prior criminal history in the area, according to online court records.
Officers were previously dispatched to the family's home late Monday, in response to a report of a verbal altercation, but no charges were placed in that incident.
