Alofa Time

Background

Alofa Time was from Boise, Idaho. His wife was Theresa Lee Time, and his estranged wife was also Theresa Lee Time.

Theresa Lee Time was born in Samoa. Alofa Time’s unusual name drew attention. The name “alofa” means “love” in the Samoan language. News reports did not state whether Alofa Time was also born in Samoa.

Theresa Lee Time’s surviving sister, Roberta Oswald, reported that Time was a very jealous man. Theresa Lee Time was also survived by three sons who lived in California.

The offence

Alofa Time intentionally crashed his Dodge Ram truck into another vehicle on June 16, 2006. The crash killed Samantha Nina Murphy, 36, and her daughter Jae Lynne Grimes, 4. Alofa Time was uninjured in the crash.

The impact caused the severed head of Theresa Lee Time to fly onto Franklin Road. Soon afterward, police found Theresa Lee Time’s stabbed and beheaded body in the garage of the couple’s home.

Alofa Time admitted being involved with Theresa Lee Time’s death.

A separate account described that the decapitation of the suspect’s ex-wife took place in her Nampa home. Police said the story began Wednesday night with the killing of his ex-wife, including cutting off her head. It then ended on Franklin Road with two more victims, an innocent mother and child traveling near Cloverdale.

A Canyon County Coroner identified that Theresa Lee Time had been decapitated.

A probable cause hearing included allegations that Alofa Time had sexually assaulted Theresa Lee Time the night she was murdered using a broken table leg from a coffee table found in his garage. The allegations were based on details in letters police said he wrote.

Investigation

Police found a severed female head lying on Franklin Road. After that discovery, Nampa Police rushed to Time’s home and found the decapitated body of Theresa Lee Time in the garage of the couple’s home at the Lotus Spring Subdivision.

Canyon County Coroner Vicki Degeus-Morris said: “Obviously, she had been decapitated.”

Investigation also included statements about blood at the accident scene and letters found in Time’s wallet.

Detective Brandy Sutherland of the Nampa Police Department said:

“He immediately said to her that he had killed his wife and that he was going to commit suicide, kill himself,”

Sutherland also described what Alofa Time said during a phone call to his aunt in California:

“He said he was intending on committing suicide and told her to cremate him, cremate his body along with the $300 he had on his person,”

Sutherland said the call was made one hour before he allegedly crashed head-on into another vehicle, killing two people.

Sutherland said there was a considerable amount of blood on Time’s shirt and a spot of blood on his foot. She also said: “His hands also appeared to have, be covered with blood or dried blood,”

Officers recovered a letter from Time’s wallet. Sutherland said:

“That one said 'I apologize for the brutality, brutalize' and then he stopped writing that and apparently wrote the other letter,”

Sutherland described a second letter entitled “motive” and what it indicated:

“He was tired of his wife hitting him, calling him names, and making fun of his manhood,”

Sutherland also described the sexual-assault allegation and how Time hoped it would affect Theresa Lee Time:

“will give her eternal pleasure for life,” according to Sutherland.

The investigation included that a suicide note and money with unreported amounts of “wants” were found at the scene of the accident. (The exact phrase used in the account was “money with unreported wants after his death.”)

Arrest

Time was arrested after police investigation connected him to the deaths. He pleaded with police to kill him after the decapitated head of his wife was found along the roadside during the investigation of the accident.

Trial

Time entered a plea and pleaded guilty to first degree murder in the killing of his wife, Theresa Lee Time.

Sentencing

Under a plea agreement, Time was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Formal sentencing was set for March 5.

Another account described a later sentencing on March 1, 2007, in which Time was sentenced to 45 years total in the Idaho State Correctional Institute on:

• two counts of vehicular manslaughter
• one count of aggravated driving under the influence

Each charge carried a 15 year sentence, according to the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office.

Appeals

No appeal information appeared in the provided record.

Outcome

A plea deal spared Time from the death penalty.

Canyon County prosecutors had sought the death penalty. Time’s guilty plea resulted in closure regarding the death-penalty pursuit.

Time still faced two second-degree murder charges for the traffic deaths in Ada County, and Ada County was not pursuing the death penalty against him.

Aftermath

Time’s house was scheduled to be sold at auction March 16. The account also stated that he had apparently defaulted on his mortgage.

Neighbor Pete Romo said he had never heard noise from the couple’s home and described them as quiet.

A person described as working in state corrections said: “I think it really didn't matter,” and also: “Because the way things work in Idaho we don't execute people anyway. People sit on death row for years.”

Marcie Hammer worked with Samantha Murphy and said:

“Would you have preferred him to get the death penalty?” “I mean, she was my best friend and part of our family, so probably so, but I'm sure she would be happy with what happened, what the outcome was,”

The survivor of the crash was Sydnee Murphy, 8, who was critically wounded and was recovering in a local hospital. Samantha Murphy’s blood stained car was part of police evidence.

Prosecutors said the plea agreement would spare Theresa’s family from a lengthy trial.