Valerie Pape

Case information

Valerie Pape was convicted after pleading guilty in 2002 to second-degree murder for killing her husband, Ira Pomerantz, and for disposing of his headless, armless, legless torso in a Mesa trash bin.

Background

Valerie Pape was a Scottsdale beauty salon owner and a French citizen.

Valerie Pape and Ira Pomerantz lived with a history of domestic violence between them. Maricopa County Attorney's Office spokesman Bill FitzGerald said: "There appears to have been a domestic violence problem that existed between the defendant and the victim, Ira Pomerantz," and added: "This includes an incident that appears to have happened just before the homicide. This information has led us to conclude that the murder was not premeditated and that the more appropriate charge is murder in the second degree."

Friends of Valerie Pape, including state Sen. Russell Bowers, said they could not believe she was guilty of killing and dismembering her husband. Russell Bowers said: "Valerie Pape showed my paintings in her salon," and also: "She is a very gentle, decent person, and I'm astonished at this."

Merle Bianchi, of Paradise Valley, was Bowers' administrative assistant for several years and introduced Pape to the senator. Bianchi's own husband died in a homicide. Bianchi said: "I only know that Valerie was the most kind, warmest, most gentle person you ever met in your life. She was naive and trusting."

At the time of the murder, Pape was 47 years old.

The offence

Valerie Pape killed her husband, Ira Pomerantz, who was 60 years old. Pape pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Pape shot and killed Ira Pomerantz during a domestic dispute on Jan. 23, 2000, according to her guilty plea account through her attorney.

After Pape admitted shooting Pomerantz during a fight, she was described as having disposed of his body parts such that only his headless, limbless torso was found. Her husband’s head and limbs were not found.

A deliveryman reported seeing Pape in January 2000 dump the torso into a Mesa trash bin; the torso was the only part of Pomerantz found. A Mesa homicide investigation also described that Pape dumped the corpse, sans head and limbs, in a trash bin at a Mesa strip mall.

The remains were described as a headless, limbless torso found in a garbage bin in January 2000 and as a headless, armless, legless torso dumped in a Mesa trash bin behind a Mesa grocery store.

Pape told police she found her husband's clothed body lying face up in a pool of blood in her Scottsdale home on Monday morning and that a gun lay nearby. Police said her husband had been fatally shot in the back.

Pape told investigators she disposed of the body because she feared being accused of his murder.

Stacy Pomerantz, the victim's daughter, told The Arizona Republic that she was relieved that Pape confessed. Stacey Pomerantz said: "Now we don't have to face a long trial and see all those grisly pictures and hear her talking about my father, who is the victim here."

Pape initially told police that she panicked when she found her husband's body but went to work at her beauty salon anyway.

Pape admitted to police that she had dumped Ira Pomerantz's headless, legless, armless torso into a Mesa trash bin on the day described as the day of the offence.

It remained unclear what Pape did with the body during a four-day period described in the reporting, and Pape refused to tell Mesa homicide detectives anything about the dismemberment. Police did find a receipt in Pape's purse showing she bought a reciprocating saw, described as a potential tool, at a Scottsdale hardware store weeks before the slaying. Investigators also found a bullet in the kitchen that they believed was fired from a gun hidden behind the rear seat of Pape's Jaguar.

Investigation

After Pape’s arrest in January 2000, news reports detailed Pape’s strained marriage, big debts, and her relationship with another man.

In the course of the investigation, police were also investigating a possible connection between the September murder of Ronald Bianchi of Paradise Valley and the recent dismemberment of Ira Pomerantz. The men's wives, Valerie Pape and Merle Bianchi, were friends and Pape spent some time at the Bianchi house in Paradise Valley after Pomerantz and his wife separated.

Ronald Bianchi’s body was discovered in the woods north of Payson by a group of hikers Sept. 18. Investigators said Bianchi died from a gunshot wound to the heart. No suspects had been identified in Bianchi's murder.

Gila County Attorney Jerry DeRose said: "We're still evaluating (the possible connection between Pape and Merle Bianchi)," and added: "We're not going to ignore that they were friends."

DeRose also said: "This could be nothing more than a coincidence," and added: "We are in communication with Mesa and Maricopa County. Valerie Pape sits with husband, Ira Pomerantz."

Arrest

Police traced a Jaguar to Valerie Pape’s identity as the estranged wife of Ira Pomerantz after a delivery truck driver witnessed a petite blonde woman throwing the torso into the dumpster behind a Mesa grocery store and jotted down the license plate number of the woman's Jaguar as she left the scene.

After her arrest in January 2000, it was reported that Pape admitted dumping the torso in the trash and had been charged with first-degree murder.

Trial

Valerie Pape pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2002 in Maricopa County Superior Court.

Pape faced 10 to 16 years in prison when sentenced in October, and she originally faced a charge of first-degree murder.

As part of the plea agreement, Pape would not have to disclose who, if anyone, helped her cut up her husband.

Sentencing

Valerie Pape was sentenced to 16 years in prison with no parole.

An Arizona Department of Corrections executive director Dora Schriro approved a transfer of Pape under an international treaty, along with the U.S. Department of Justice, according to prison records.

In reporting, Arizona authorities said France would have been free to release Pape on parole once she was in that country. Arizona Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katie Decker said: "We’re going to be taking a good hard look at this case and, hopefully, she won’t be leaving the country."

Appeals

No appeal outcome was stated.

Outcome

Valerie Pape remained silent on the whereabouts of her husband’s remains, and her husband’s body parts have not been found.

Aftermath

Valerie Pape was released from the Arizona State Prison on Nov. 7 and placed in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

She arrived Friday at The Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, where she would be housed until her flight to France.

Arizona Department of Corrections executive director Dora Schriro approved the transfer along with the U.S.

Schriro changed her mind Monday after the daughters of the victim voiced concerns about the uncertainty of how the sentence would be served in France.

Robyn Snell, a daughter of Ira Pomerantz, said: "I haven’t thought about Valerie in years, but the thought of her getting out is unreal."

Katie Decker said the department was going to work with the U.S. Marshal to have Pape returned to the state, and she said: "We’re going to be taking a good hard look at this case and, hopefully, she won’t be leaving the country."

Decker said Schriro made the decision without victim input after attempts to find Pomerantz' family were unsuccessful, but she changed her mind Monday after the daughters voiced their concerns about the uncertainty of how the sentence would be served in France.

Defense attorney Larry Hammond, who represented Pape until she pleaded guilty, said it appeared to him that the transfer was done properly and that such transfers are common.

Hammond said the transfer was in Arizona’s best interest because the state would no longer have to pay to house her.

Pape made a claim from jail for the return of her personal property taken into police custody during the investigation/trial. She claimed Mesa police improperly turned over $16,000 worth of personal items, including designer lingerie, family photos and keepsakes, collected during the investigation to Pomerantz's daughter, Stacy. The claim was triggered by an investigation of Stacy Pomerantz.

It was stated that Stacy Pomerantz was suspected of passing checks in Pape's name around Palm Springs, California.

In comments about her husband’s behaviour, Bianchi said Pape was afraid of Pomerantz and that she started coming to Bianchi's home in the fall shortly after Bianchi’s husband was murdered. Bianchi said: "She called me one night and said Ira had thrown knives at her. She ran out the back door and said could she come and stay with me."

Russell Bowers said: "I knew her husband beat her up. I've seen her face. It was a sickening thing." He also said: "I think highly of Valerie, and it makes me sick to my stomach to think this could happen to her."