Woman hides ex-landlord’s body after being confronted about forged checks, MA police say
A Massachusetts woman was arrested and arraigned on Sept. 28 after she was accused of murdering her former landlord, according to police.
Police in Newton, an affluent suburb of Boston, said they conducted a wellness check at the home of Leonard Garber, 65, on Sept. 26 after his family reported him missing, but saw no sign of him.
Police returned the next afternoon and found Garber’s body hidden under construction materials and shrouded in a curtain, according to the release.
The Newton Police Department, which did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment, determined that Garber had been keeping company with Xiu Fang Ke, 43, one of his former tenants, according to the release. The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and the Massachusetts State Police were also involved in the investigation and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Police stated that an investigation revealed Fang Ke had been forging checks from accounts belonging to Garber, a chief technology officer at an e-commerce company, according to his public Linkedin profile. She is accused of stealing more than $40,000.
Upon discovering he had been swindled, Garber confronted Fang Ke, at which point she killed him and concealed the body, according to the release.
Fang Ke later admitted to stealing the checks and murdering Garber, stating that she used a hammer, according to a police report obtained by the Boston Herald. She faces a murder charge.
Fang Ke sent a message in a group chat saying she owed gambling debts and that she was suicidal, according to NBC Boston.
She was arrested “without incident” in the early morning of Sept. 28 and arraigned later that day, according to the release.
Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller declined to comment to McClatchy News. But in a statement addressing the detectives from the state police and staff from the district attorney’s office, she wrote, “you were here in Newton with us and for us the minute we needed you and you stayed late into the early morning and were back as the sun rose. The work you do is important and difficult, and you do it well. Thank you.”
“Mr. Garber was a member of our community,” she added. “He attended synagogue here; he had friends and neighbors who knew and cared about him. You, too, are in our thoughts.”
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