Justus Ogendi Kebabe, 43, left, was charged Friday, Oct. 15, 2010, with three counts of second-degree murder in Ramsey County District Court in the death of his wife, Bilha Omare, 32; and their children, son Kinley Ogendi, 12; and daughter Ivyn Ogendi, 9, during the week of October 11, 2010. (Courtesy to Pioneer Press: family friend)
Justus Ogendi Kebabe is on suicide watch.
Twice since allegedly killing his wife and two of their children, Kebabe has tried to kill himself. In the latest unsuccessful attempt, he choked himself with toilet paper in jail the night before his Friday court appearance.
Kebabe, 43, was charged Friday in Ramsey County District Court with three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of his wife, Bilha Omare, 32, and two of their children: son Kinley Ogendi, 12, and daughter Ivyn Ogendi, 9.
The victims were found early Thursday morning in their Vadnais Heights apartment. Authorities said Kebabe confessed to killing them.
“He snapped,” said family friend Kelli Harris.
After the killings, Kebabe fled with the couple’s 3-year-old daughter as far as the Elko-New Market area, about an hour’s drive south of the Twin Cities, where authorities arrested him.
He reportedly told investigators he hit his wife in the head with a golf club and strangled her with an electrical wire, according to a criminal complaint. Kebabe then gave his children cranberry juice mixed with Tylenol PM pills before holding his son’s head underwater in the bathtub until the boy stopped moving, investigators said. Kebabe reportedly then smothered his daughter with a pillow and strangled her.
The relationship between Kebabe and his wife was shaky before the killings.
He was jealous of his wife, Harris said. Omare, a mother of three, was working at a senior-living facility and
planning to graduate in December from a nursing program.
Kebabe, who used to be a registered assistant nurse, had lost his job, Harris said. He believed a past conviction — for attacking Omare in 2008 — hindered his job search.
An already violent relationship boiled over with Kebabe’s fears his wife would abandon the marriage once she graduated, as well as his suspicions she was cheating on him.
Omare denied being unfaithful, Harris said, adding that Kebabe was “over-imagining” his wife’s interactions with her male classmates and co-workers.
Kebabe “isn’t some kind of monster,” Harris said.
“There was a goodness about Justus as well,” she added. “There were good times in that marriage. I know he loved her. There were just a lot of things he couldn’t overcome.”
Harris befriended Kebabe when he immigrated to the United States from Kenya in the late 1990s, she said. She became friends with his wife when she immigrated five years later.
Harris, 49, of Anoka, who is a nurse, was helping Omare, who spoke English as a second language, complete the practical nursing program at Hennepin Technical College in Brooklyn Park. Omare enrolled at the school in January 2008, according to the college.
“We were like family,” Harris said.
The couple appeared to be a normal, happy family, Harris added. But they were private people — especially Kebabe.
Omare did confide in Harris about the abuse, however. Although she never saw any signs of physical injury in Omare or the children, Harris said she would hear Kebabe verbally abusing them in the background while she was on the phone with Omare.
The family’s turmoil became public Dec. 16, 2008, when Kebabe was arrested and accused of pushing Omare and threatening to hit her with a vacuum, according to a criminal report. Omare told a deputy about past abuse and said she thought Kebabe might kill her.
She said she lived daily with serious mental abuse.
Kebabe denied pushing Omare and said he’d never hit her.
He later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, court records show. He was sentenced to a year of supervised probation, which expired in August. He also was ordered into domestic abuse counseling and treatment and completed a six-week class, the records said.
The closer Omare came to graduation, the more tense the couple’s relationship became, Harris said. When Harris saw Omare for the last time Oct. 2, Omare said Kebabe was creating obstacles to prevent her from attending school and finishing her homework.
“She feared things were getting worse … and that Justus was going to do something,” Harris said. She last heard from Omare in an e-mail four days later.
Omare “was just at wits’ end,” Harris said.
Betty Balan, shelter program supervisor at the Alexandra House, a domestic and sexual abuse shelter in Blaine, said domestic violence can become heightened among immigrant families who are dealing with power struggles between male and female roles.
Many women tend to gain more independence after moving to the United States, she said. They discover they can work outside the home and may pursue an education.
The men “feel like they’re losing control of who they are, and their families,” Balan said. “It’s threatening when someone has more control and more power.”
Domestic violence continues to be a problem in all communities, said Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner. However, it is more difficult for immigrant women to ask for help because of the cultural, and sometimes economic, pressures to remain silent.
“It’s hard to reach out from the family and get help from strangers,” Gaertner said. “It’s got to be even harder … when you’re part of an immigrant community.”
Kebabe made his first appearance in Ramsey County District Court on Friday, wearing a green Kevlar vest to prevent him from harming himself.
It was a guard making his regular 15-minute inmate checks who found Kebabe on the floor the night before his court appearance, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said. Kebabe never lost consciousness, and a nurse determined he didn’t need to be hospitalized.
Before his arrest, Kebabe swallowed Tylenol PM pills and put a bag over his head but had second thoughts when he realized he had not made plans for their youngest child, the complaint said.
Authorities went to Kebabe’s apartment after his brother reported Kebabe was “very distraught and stating he was going to kill himself,” the complaint said. Authorities learned his wife had not been to work all week.
Officers entered the apartment at 1 a.m. Thursday and found the bodies.
Omare was lying on the bathroom floor, with blood around her head, the complaint said. She died of strangulation, according to the Ramsey County medical examiner’s office.
Kebabe told investigators he attacked Omare on Monday after the couple fought about affairs he alleged she was having, the complaint said. After he strangled her, he said, he left her in the locked bathroom.
The children came home from school Monday night and went to bed. The next morning, Kebabe told investigators he drugged the children, the complaint said. When his son, Kinley, went to take a bath, Kebabe followed him and held his head under the water.
Kinley said, “Stop, daddy, stop!” Kebabe said.
When Kinley stopped struggling, Kebabe placed his body in his bedroom and locked the door. Kinley died of freshwater drowning and a possible drug overdose, the medical examiner stated.
Kebabe then went to his elder daughter’s bedroom, where she was dressed and lying on the bed, the complaint said. He put a pillow over her head and smothered her. Kebabe later said he also choked her until she was dead. He left her body in the bed. Ivyn died of asphyxia from strangulation and a probable drug overdose, the medical examiner stated.
Judge Gail Chang Bohr set Kebabe’s bail at $3 million, which prosecutors had requested. If convicted, Kebabe could face up to 40 years in prison for each count against him.
His next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 29.
Maricella Miranda can be reached at 651-228-5421. Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262.
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
Minnesota Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-866-223-1111
St. Paul Intervention Project: 651-645-2824
Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women: www.mcbw.org
Alexandra House: 763-780-2332
Comentarios