Vietnamese wife depenised her husband - Vợ Việt cắt chim chồng Mỹ

BY Nancy Dillon
Wednesday, July 13th 2011, 4:17 PM

Garden Grove Police Dept.

Catherine Becker, 48, is accused of brutally cutting off her husband's penis and putting into a running garbage disposal, police say.

LOS ANGELES - The California woman accused of severing her husband's penis and mutilating it in a garbage disposal was upset about "friends staying at the residence," prosecutors said Wednesday.

Indeed, authorities believe Catherine Kieu was consumed by jealous rage related to one or more females when she allegedly committed the heinous crime, a law enforcement source told the Daily News.

Kieu, a 48-year-old real estate broker, appeared in court Wednesday on charges of felony torture and aggravated mayhem. She faces a maximum of life in prison with the possibility of parole if convicted.

The 60-year-old victim earlier told police his wife was angry about their pending divorce.

He denied the existence of a love triangle.

"He's saying there isn't (another woman)," Lt. Jeff Nightengale of the Garden Grove Police Department told the News.

The man, a textiles business owner whose name is being withheld, was in "surprisingly good spirits" following emergency surgery and was listed in "good" condition at UC Irvine Medical Center late Tuesday, Nightengale said.

"Two veteran detectives interviewed him Tuesday and were surprised at his demeanor. They said he was able to answer questions and was in surprisingly good spirits considering everything he's gone through," he said.

Authorities say Kieu drugged her estranged husband's food Monday night to make him sleepy, tied him to the four corners of a bed with nylon ropes, cut off his penis with a 10-inch knife and ran the penis through the kitchen garbage disposal before calling 911.

"The garbage disposal element is going a whole step beyond. That's why we're going with aggravated mayhem instead of just mayhem. The garbage disposal took it to a whole other level," Nightengale said.

Pieces of the penis were recovered and transported to the hospital, but Nightengale said he couldn't comment on whether or not doctors successfully reattached anything.

He said Kieu "spontaneously" said her husband "deserved it" when she met police at the door of the apartment.

The couple married in December 2009 but separated in April and filed for divorce in May. The victim told cops he allowed Kieu to continue living in his apartment because she had nowhere else to go, Nightengale said.

The suspect, who's of Vietnamese descent, is being held without bail. She's scheduled to return to court July 22 for a bail hearing.

The food has been sent to a county testing facility.

A wife is accused of cutting off the penis of her estranged husband. She was arrested late last night after investigators responded to a 911 call and is now in custody at the Orange County Jail.

Catherine Kieu Becker of Garden Grove reportedly prepared dinner for her husband and put a poisonous substance or drug in his food to make him drowsy, reports KTLA. While the man was sleeping, Becker allegedly tied him to the bed. When he awakened, Becker cut his penis off with a knife and threw it into the garbage disposal, turning it on as she did so.

Lt. Jeff. Nightengale told NBC LA that Becker called 911 at around 10 p.m. requesting emergency assistance. Nightengale said that Becker "told responding officers that he 'deserved it.'" Nightengale also revealed that the married couple was going through a divorce.

Nightengale spoke with the HuffPost and confirms that the victim has been upgraded to stable or good condition and is being treated at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange. Nightengale also says that pieces of the severed member were recovered from the crime scene and transported to the hospital with the victim last night, but he has no details on how the surgery went. Police hope to interview the victim either today or tomorrow.

Becker has been charged with "aggravated mayhem, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, administering a drug with intent to commit a felony, poisoning and spousal abuse," according to the Associated Press. The most serious of these charges is "aggravated mayhem," which carries a life sentence with possibility of parole (as opposed to just "mayhem," which has a sentence of 3-5 years).

Of the aggravated mayhem charge, Nightengale says, "It's so heinous -- we're looking at this as premeditated. Her intention was to permanently deprive him of a piece of his body and do it in such a way to inflict a great amount of pain and psychological damage." He also adds, "I've been doing this for 22 years and the only other time I remember this happening was when Lorena Bobbitt did it, and that didn't even happen here. This isn't a typical domestic violence case -- it was way over the top."