Neighbors describe dead woman as ‘sweet, friendly’
By CAROLYN SACKARIASON AND ANDREW H. FIXMER Daily Press Staff Writers
A Santa Monica man suspected of killing his wife and her mother committed suicide in Nebraska on Wednesday as police closed in on him.
Shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday, Santa Monica Police were notified by the Los Angeles Police Department of the murder of Anna Catherine Hughes, 66, of Westchester. Her body was found in her residence about 2:50 p.m.
Several hours later, Santa Monica police officers went to the home of William Wheeler Jr., 41, and his estranged wife at the 2300 block of Ocean Park Boulevard, where they found the body of a 37-year-old white female.
The Los Angeles Coroner’s Office has not determined the cause of death for either victim and would not release the Santa Monica woman’s name. Neighbors identified the dead woman as Maureen Hughes and said the couple was separated, though they would see each often.
Police in Los Angeles knew Wheeler had relatives in Kimball, Neb., and alerted law enforcement there to be on the lookout for his car. Kimball police located the car in front of the residence about 4 a.m. MST, and contacted the county sheriff’s office and the Nebraska State Patrol.
Nebraska authorities kept the residence under surveillance for two hours while they obtained a search warrant. At about 6 a.m., SWAT teams approached the home. Wheeler then attempted to flee in his car.
He got about eight blocks before police blocked the streets. Realizing he was caught, Wheeler fatally shot himself. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
On Wednesday evening, several neighbors and friends gathered outside the couple’s apartment door to light prayer candles for Hughes and leave flowers in her memory. They joined hands and prayed for her.
“She was a sweet gentle lady,” said a neighbor, who did not want to give her name. “She was very friendly and always full of life.”
Said another nearby resident, “She would always wave and say hello. She made you feel real neighborly.”
Hughes grew up in the Santa Monica area and was close to her family, the neighbors and friends said. She went to college at Loyola Marymount where she received an accounting degree. Neighbors said she had worked for e-Toys, and then as an accountant somewhere in Santa Monica after the e-commerce company went under.
Anne, who described herself as a close friend of Maureen Hughes but wouldn’t give her last name, said she knew the couple was having marital difficulties but didn’t think Wheeler would harm his wife.
“She was never specific but I know he was never physical with her,” Anne said. “He was very verbal, but he never physically hurt her.”
Another neighbor described Wheeler as “a loud one — a real brow-beater.”
“You didn’t hear her much,” she said. “She always tried to joke things away.”
Neighbors described the couple as devoutly Mormon, though they said Wheeler had begun to act differently of late.
“He started to change,” one neighbor said. “He was a corporate guy — he worked in an office and everything. But then he started shaving his head and growing a mohawk,”
It was unclear what Wheeler did for a living.
Neighbors said they last saw Hughes at the apartment Friday afternoon.
Police evacuated the four apartments in the one-story, white stucco apartment building located at 2312 Ocean Park Blvd. around 9 p.m. Tuesday, neighbors said. A Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team then burst through the front door of Hughes and Wheeler’s apartment. Police believed Wheeler was still in the apartment at the time and was armed.
Investigators stayed at the apartment until 6 a.m. Wednesday. They then boarded up the door with plywood and bolted it shut. The blinds were pulled shut but the lights were left on.
“There were tons and tons of police,” said one neighbor. “It seemed like every 20 minutes more police officers would arrive from someplace different.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 28, 2002. Read the original PDF.