John Edward Bogema put the knife he'd used to stab his wife and slit her throat on the blankets that covered her body, according to court documents.
Dayton man charged with wife's murder
The defendant, John Edward Bogema, 49, has a history of mental illness and "did not feel well," the charges said.
June 14, 2011 at 2:54AM
He put his bloody shirt in the washer.
He called his wife's son and left a message saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Justin. I'm going back to the mental hospital." Then he called 911.
Bogema, 49, of Dayton, was charged Monday with intentional second-degree murder in the death early Friday of 58-year-old Georgia Bogema.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said her death was only the second homicide in Dayton since 1984. But, he said, it is the second domestic-related homicide in the past week and the third in Hennepin County since the start of the year. All three have been in the suburbs.
"One domestic abuse homicide is one too many," Freeman said. "So what we're going to be doing, along with the domestic abuse advocates, is looking very carefully to see if there's a pattern we can see. We ought to be able to intervene."
According to the criminal complaint, police went to the Bogemas' home in the 13800 block of Vineland Court shortly before 4:30 a.m. in response to a call from John Bogema. Bogema told the dispatcher that "he did not feel well and that he had mental problems," the complaint said.
Bogema met police outside and said his wife was dead. When an officer asked Bogema if he'd killed his wife, Bogema replied, "I might have."
Georgia Bogema's body was found in a bedroom. A pair of men's shorts with blood on them were in the bedroom, too. There was blood on the sink and the shower of the bathroom. There was a bloody shirt in the washer.
The defendant was arrested at the scene. Freeman said Bogema has "some history of mental illness" but said he was "not at liberty to go through whatever treatment he's had."
Freeman also said there was some history of domestic violence in the Bogemas' home, "but nothing we know of to date that would reflect that he would commit a homicide.
"We know there was a history," he said. "Exactly the nature and the depth of that history we're still investigating."
The other domestic homicides in 2011 in Hennepin County:
• Cynthia Hickman, 34, of Brooklyn Park, was beaten to death with a baseball bat on Feb. 26, allegedly by her estranged husband. Henry Hickman, 54, is charged with second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder after he allegedly set fire to the house, leaving his sons, ages 5 and 8, in the basement.
• Kristin Sandeen, 40, was strangled June 5 in the New Hope apartment she shared with her boyfriend, Douglas Manney. Manney, 50, is charged with intentional second-degree murder.
Pat Pheifer • 612-673-7252
The pilot was the only person inside the plane, and was not injured in the emergency landing, according to the State Patrol.
