Marlton man charged in wife's death
Police said Kirk K. Krawiec killed his wife because he wrongly believed their business was about to fail.
A Burlington County man who suffocated his wife with a pillow in what authorities said was a twisted effort to spare her from distress over their failing home-based consulting business was shipped to a psychiatric facility for evaluation today, authorities said.
Kirk Krawiec, 46, who was to have appeared in Superior Court this morning for an arraignment, was instead taken to the county Screening Crisis Intervention Program for evaluation. His arraignment will be scheduled later.
Tragically, Krawiec miscalculated the condition of the family business, said county Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi: "The business hadn't failed at all."
Police found the body of Theresa Krawiec, 47, a Marlton mother of three, on a bed in the master bedroom. Someone had crossed her arms over her chest, placed a Mass card in her hands and pulled a sheet over her head.
She had been dead for more than six hours before her husband called 911.
Officers arriving shortly before 3 a.m. yesterday found Kirk Krawiec waiting in the front yard of the family's split-level on the 300 block of Stoney Brook Lane, authorities said.
The couple's three children - a son, aged 21, and two daughters, 19 and 17 - were awakened as police entered, said Bernardi.
Kirk Krawiec was charged with murder soon after he was questioned.
The couple ran K&M Logistics, a consulting company for the trucking industry, Bernardi said. The main office was a desk in the master bedroom.
They had lost several clients recently, Bernardi said, and Kirk Kraweic believed that his wife would be unable to handle the collapse of their business.
At 8 p.m. Tuesday, the husband put a pillow over his wife's face and smothered her, Bernardi said.
The children were home at the time. They had no idea their mother was dead in bed, he said.
Investigators from the prosecutor's office examined the couple's financial records yesterday and were stunned at what they found, said Bernardi.
There was no sign the Krawiecs were in financial jeopardy - no indication they had missed mortgage or car payments, Bernardi said.
"He was projecting into their future," Bernardi said. "He decided to take her off the face of the earth rather than have her experience financial withdrawal."
The Mass card that had been placed in Theresa Kraweic's hands was from the funeral for her mother, who died a few months ago, Bernardi said.
"We believe he put that there after he killed her," Bernardi said. "Maybe he thought he had reunited the two again."
Krawiec failed to post $500,000 bail and was jailed in Burlington County Jail. He faces his first court appearance today.
