Friday, October 15, 2010

Tulsa, OK: Police investigate man in wife's death

Tulsa police are investigating the husband of a woman who was found shot to death in her home Thursday morning.

The woman's husband, 39-year-old Laroye Hunter III, was arrested later in the day on a protective order violation and a domestic assault and battery complaint, jail records show.

Police were dispatched to the 7100 block of East Newton Place about 10 a.m. Thursday. Police identified the victim as Damesha Hunter, 32. A neighbor said she was the mother of four children.

Hunter remained in jail Friday and had an additional hold for the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, according to jail records.

Police have not named Hunter as a suspect, but jail records show police "respectfully request" a large bond while Hunter is "under investigation for the homicide of his wife."

Hunter's husband told police that he came home from work and found her dead Thursday morning and then called 911, Officer Leland Ashley said.

EMSA spokeswoman Kelli Bruer said medics pronounced her dead at the scene.

Police had not identified any suspects by Thursday night but did take at least one man to the Tulsa Police Department's Detective Division for questioning, Ashley said earlier in the day.

Friday, Tulsa police issued a release stating they would like to talk to anyone who saw a silver 2003 Dodge Intrepid being driven by a black male between 8 and 10 a.m. Thursday morning in the area.

Sam Newton, a retired Tulsa police officer who lives across the street, said he talked to Laroye Hunter as police were arriving.

The husband told Newton he was at work and on the phone with Damesha Hunter when she put the phone down to answer the door about 8 a.m. When she did not came back to the phone and he couldn't reach her, he went home to check on her, Newton said the husband had told him.

Laroye Hunter was taken into custody Thursday afternoon on an allegation that he violated a protective order filed by Damesha Hunter earlier this year; a complaint of domestic assault and battery in the presence of a minor, and three warrants for failure to pay court costs.

Court records show that Damesha Hunter requested the protective order March 18 after she said her husband "pushed me down on the floor, pushed me up against the wall … pulled my leg and drug me on the floor and tried to choke me."

She filed to dismiss the protective order March 29, stating that the couple was going to seek counseling before deciding whether to divorce, but a judge denied the request, leaving the protective order in effect, according to court records.

According to police, Laroye Hunter hit her Saturday while she was driving with her 6-year-old son in the vehicle, jail records show. He became angry with her when she picked him up for not speaking to his family, according to jail records.

While she was driving, Hunter punched her in the face with a closed fist, cutting her lip, records show. She put the car in park and ran from the vehicle, police report.

When officers arrived at the couple's home, they could not locate Laroye Hunter but found the 6-year-old alone and crying inside the residence, records show.

Laroye Hunter had been charged in 2006 with domestic assault and battery by strangulation in connection with an alleged attack on Damesha Lee, his then-girlfriend, who was 8½ months' pregnant, according to court records. That case was dismissed in 2008 when a witness for the prosecution failed to appear.

In 1989, when Hunter was 17, he was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree arson in the death of his father, Laroye Hunter Jr. According to Tulsa World archives, the teen admitted to police that he poured gasoline on his father and lit it during an argument at their apartment, but the taped confession was ruled inadmissible for trial because of discrepancies with the recording, including a 40-minute unrecorded gap.

The case was dismissed in 1990 when a witness who told police she had seen Hunter running from the burning building failed to testify, according to archives.

Thursday's shooting brings the number of homicides this year in Tulsa to 46.

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