Hmong Man accused of Murdering his wife in Egan, MN
^Saint^
Heron Marquez Estrada / Star Tribune
As office manager of the St. Paul Police Department's homicide unit, Marie
Heu had seen enough domestic abuse cases turn into homicides to know that
she needed help when her marriage started going sour.
Maria Heu
But despite obtaining an order for protection and getting rides home from
the cops she worked with, Heu was found fatally shot early Tuesday in the
Eagan home she shared with her three daughters, ages 18, 13 and 8.
By Tuesday afternoon, Eagan police were seeking her estranged husband, Fu J.
Heu, 38. Earlier this summer, he pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife, and
investigators said he is considered armed and dangerous.
"She knew what the right thing to do was, but it's difficult for authorities
to do anything," said Chief William Finney, whose eyes appeared to mist
Tuesday afternoon during a news conference at which top department officials
remembered Marie Heu.
Tears flowed in the homicide unit, where she had worked for the past year
answering phones, managing files and helping out with cases. She would come
in during the middle of the night to help with a fresh homicide
investigation, using her fluency in four languages to translate information
from suspects or witnesses.
"She was a woman of incredible spirit," Finney said. "This is not a happy
day for the St. Paul Police Department."
Eagan police Capt. James McDonald said Marie Heu, 34, was shot once in the
chest and once in the abdomen.
There was no sign of forced entry at the home and no sign of struggle
inside, McDonald said.
It appeared that she was alone in the home at the time of the killing, he
said. Her body was found by a family friend about 1 a.m. Tuesday. McDonald
said it appeared that Marie Heu had died within the past 24 hours.
"It may be domestic," he said.
Investigators spent most of Tuesday looking for Fu Heu, a bank official who
apparently didn't show up for his job at a Roseville bank Tuesday. A message
on his answering machine at work wasn't returned.
McDonald said Fu Heu may be in a 1998 GMC Jimmy, described as maroon or
bronze in color, with Minnesota license plate number BTR-094. He also might
have the weapon used in the shooting.
According to Dakota County court documents, the Heus began their
relationship more than 20 years ago when Marie Heu was a teenager.
The couple and their children lived in Spain for a time before moving to
California in August 1986, according to acquaintances. Eventually, they
moved to North Carolina, where Marie Heu got a job working for the police
department in Hickory.
According to Dakota County court records, Marie Heu had complained of a 1998
domestic abuse incident. Problems apparently escalated on June 18, when,
according to Eagan police, Fu Heu choked his wife and threatened her with a
knife after she told him she wanted a divorce.
"He said that if I leave him he will kill me and then kill himself,
including the children," Marie Heu wrote in a police report of the incident.
Fu Heu eventually pleaded guilty to fifth-degree assault and was awaiting
sentencing, Eagan police said.
In another police report written less than a week after the assault, she
said that her husband had persuaded a neighbor to place flowers, greeting
cards and cash at her front door, which violated a court order requiring
that he not contact her.
Fu Heu was arrested by Eagan police as he sat having tea and cookies with
the neighbors.
"We didn't know there were problems," said Alma Birr, the neighbor who
delivered the items to Marie Heu's home. "He's such a mild-mannered husband.
He said he wanted to send the children gifts."
Eagan police said that apart from the two calls this summer, there was
almost no police activity at the home in the 3800 block of Alder Lane.
Growing fear
St. Paul police said Marie Heu, who was born in France and raised in Spain,
talked about how it often seemed that Hmong men whose wives were leaving
them threatened to kill the women, their kids and then themselves.
In particular, she mentioned the case of Bao Lor, a St. Paul woman whose
husband apparently killed her in 1998 before committing suicide. Lor's body
has never been found.
"She was very aware of that reality," Finney said. "We worried about that
and talked about it."
After the June assault, Marie Heu turned to her police colleagues for
advice.
She followed through when homicide investigators advised her to file
domestic abuse charges. She listened when they told her to obtain an order
for protection.
"They were available to her 24 hours a day," said Cmdr. John Vomastek, the
head of the homicide unit. "She'd always tell us if she felt afraid. She'd
call and everyone would drop what they were doing."
Story posted from St. Paul Star Tribune.
www.startribune.com
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My comments:
*sad..... what is our society coming to ? If the woman wants to leave,...
let her. Billions of fishes in the sea !!
-Take care of your own and they'll take care of you !
~Saint^
CandleLight
community as well. My condolence goes out to them, especially to the
three daughters.
--
CandleLight
"Let men beware of causing women to weep; God counts their tears."
Hebrew Proverb
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