2 wives in my area murdered this week

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-26-2003
2 wives in my area murdered this week
1
Fri, 09-17-2004 - 6:50pm
The murder of wives and mothers is such a common crime. Today my local newspaper has 2 sad stories. Here is one of them. I am struck by the fact that at the funeral of Diane Malone, who was brutally murdered by her husband while her 3 children were home (the 6-yr old girl came out covered with her mother's blood)one of the mourners was waving her own order of protection against her own estranged husband, shouting at the reporters "These don't work!"


Husband is arrested in Long Beach murder



Keiko Morris

Staff Writer

September 17, 2004, 1:15 PM EDT

Police said that the Long Beach man wanted for the brutal slaying of his estranged wife had noticed that "the circle was tightening" as both Long Beach and Nassau officers intensified their search and that he intended to flee the area when he was arrested last night.

David Malone was captured as he was walking down Virginia Street in Long Beach with some of his personal belongings, Nassau police said. Malone, 35, had been hiding throughout the four-day search in an unoccupied summer home, police said. It was about two blocks west of his own bungalow, where police discovered the bludgeoned and stabbed body of his estranged wife, Diane Malone, and his three young children Monday night, police said.

"I love my family, I love my wife," David Malone said to reporters outside police headquarters in Mineola before being taken to Long Beach Court for arraignment on a second-degree murder charge.

"I just want to say goodbye to my wife. I love them, I love them," he said.

A funeral procession was held today for Diane Malone from the Jordan Funeral Home in Island Park to Pinelawn Memorial Park, where a graveside service was conducted. Last night, mourners packed the funeral home for a brief prayer service where the Rev. Jerome Ederle offered assuring words to a tearful audience. "Diane's life, through tragically cut short, was her time of grace," he said. " ... certainly didn't abandon her at the moment of her death. Today, know that Diane is in heaven."

Police began conducting surveillance in the Long Beach neighborhood after they received information that Malone was hiding in a vacant house there. Two officers surveying the area then saw him walking along a nearby street and arrested him at about 11 p.m., police said.

Police said it appeared Malone broke into a house and hid there for three days after the killing.

Diane Malone's body was discovered on Monday in the couple's bedroom after their 6-year-old daughter, covered in blood, wandered outside to play and told a neighbor, "My mother's not moving." The girl and her siblings, ages 1 and 2, were unharmed.

Detective Lt. Dennis Farrell, commander of the Nassau County homicide squad, said today that David Malone was caring for the three children while his wife was shopping. When she returned, something sent Malone into a "jealous rage" and he then allegedly stabbed her numerous times and bludgeoned her, possibly with a shoe, Farrell said.

"There was an anger factor here; he acted on that anger," Farrell said.

Farrell also said that when Malone was captured, he had personal items that indicated he was planning to leave town. Farrell declined to elaborate.

The couple had been married for six years, but in July, Diane Malone received a temporary order of protection against David Malone and had told friends that she was going through the divorce process.

That the couple fought, most knew - either from the shouts that could be heard on their Long Beach street or by talking to Diane, who confided in many around her that she wanted out of the six-year marriage.

"She wanted to move on but something was holding her back," Rich Anetrella, Diane's personal trainer at New York Sports Club in Long Beach, said yesterday.

Some who knew her say the wall was her children, that she was afraid they would grow up in a broken family like she did. Others say that, unemployed, she was tied to David Malone financially.

Scott Cali, 41, of Long Beach, said his roommate had just started dating Diane. "He's broken-hearted," he said. "They were just falling in love."

Cali said that even after Malone separated from her husband, she let him move back for a while because she couldn't afford the mortgage.

"She was just trying to make the best of the situation," he said outside the funeral home. "After the stories I heard today, it seems this man was spiritually, emotionally, physically and financially trying to ruin her."

But Diane Malone's relationship with David Malone was complex and confusing, friends said. Despite the fights and an order of protection she obtained in July, he would often take care of the children and recently the family spent the day at the beach together.

Friends said the threat, however, remained. As Jacalyn Schuit attended the wake yesterday she held up an order of protection she had filed against her own husband and declared, "These don't work."

A close friend of Diane's from the sports club, Schuit said they often spoke about their marriages and the reasons behind the orders of protection. "I said, 'Who do you think is going to go first, me or you?'" she remembered asking her. "And she said, 'Me.'"

Staff Writer Theresa Vargas and The Associated Press contributed to this story

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 09-19-2004 - 8:36am
Hey, I saw those in the paper also.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them.

- Maya Angelou