From WRAL.com

Posted: Jul 14, 2008
Updated: Jul 14, 2008

Fayetteville police on Monday charged a Camp Lejeune Marine with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, a Fort Bragg nurse.

Army 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc was declared missing Thursday after a fire was set at her apartment near Fort Bragg.

Marine Cpl. John Patrick Wimunc, 23, was charged Monday afternoon with her death and was being held without bond in the Cumberland County Detention Center.

Crews fighting an Onslow County brush fire Sunday found charred human remains, and investigators said paraphernalia at the scene "gave investigators strong suspicions" the remains were those of Holley Wimunc.

Brown declined to specify what was found at the site, which was about a mile and a half off Old Folkstone Road, near Chadwick Acres Road in Sneads Ferry, near Camp Lejeune.

A shallow grave had been scooped about a foot deep into the ground in the forest, and the body, which was in pieces, was dumped into it, Brown said. When the remains were set afire, it ignited the brush fire, which burned slowly for a couple of days before being extinguished Sunday, Brown said.

"All indications are what happened with the body happened in another county," he said.

A severed hand clenched in a fist was one of the few body parts not consumed in the fire, he said.

Brown and other Onslow County investigators said the scene reminded them of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, whose charred remains were found in a shallow grave in January behind the Jacksonville home of Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean. Laurean was arrested in April in Mexico and is awaiting extradition to face charges in her death.

Although the remains haven't been positively identified, Holley Wimunc's father, Jesse James of Dubuque, Iowa, told WRAL Monday that authorities have told him his daughter was dead.

"Since last Thursday's shocking news about Holley's burned apartment and her missing person status, our family throughout the country has nonetheless been holding onto a thin thread of hope that she would be found alive," James said in a statement. "Today, that thread of hope broke as her body was discovered.

"At the end of this journey of sadness, we wish to thank the many, many people who have assisted us so quickly and competently in the search," James said. "We are grateful to those people ... around the country for their prayers for her safe return. Those prayers and support will help us to make it through this impossibly tough time."

Holley Wimunc, 24, was assigned to Fort Bragg last August and worked as a nurse at Womack Army Medical Center. A co-worker went to her apartment at the Morganton Place Apartments in Fayetteville Thursday morning after she didn't show up for work and found a smoldering fire that had burned two bedrooms.

Authorities said there was a strong odor of gasoline in the apartment.

John Wimunc, 23, was initially charged with first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit arson.

Kyle Ryan Alden, 22, a fellow Camp Lejeune Marine, was charged with first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit arson, and police later added a charge of accessory after the fact of first-degree murder. He also was being held without bond.

Both men were scheduled to make their first court appearances on Tuesday afternoon.

Warrants named Daniel and Dena Babcock as the occupants of the apartment and said both were in the apartment when it was burned.

Police said the Babcock's lived in the same building as Holley Wimunc and using their names was only a procedural step to file the first-degree arson charge.

Holley Wimunc's two children weren't in the apartment at the time of the fire. Police said she was going through a divorce from her husband and had sent them to live with her father in Iowa.

Fayetteville police and State Bureau of Investigation agents first spoke with John Wimunc last week during their investigation of her disappearance. Statements made during the interview helped investigators gather enough evidence to charge him and Alden in the case, police said Monday.

A warrant describes John Wimunc as "a danger to himself and others and should also be considered a flight risk." Alden was "untruthful about circumstances of the case and should be considered a flight risk," according to a warrant.

Forensic specialists from the military were headed to Onslow County from Washington, D.C., on Monday to examine the site where the remains were found, Brown said. Agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the SBI were heading up the investigation, he said.

Holley Wimunc is the second Fort Bragg soldier to be slain in the past month. The body of Spc. Megan Touma was found in a Fayetteville motel room on June 21, and police have called the case a homicide.