Killing ends a ‘difficult’ life
A stabbing victim tried to stay positive in spite of abuse, her family says
An 82-year-old Canadian woman who was stabbed to death last weekend had traveled with her husband to Hawaii despite enduring a "difficult" life in which she complained of being abused, threatened and stalked by the 83-year-old man, according to court documents and a family statement.
"Although her life was difficult, she made a tremendous effort to maintain a positive and hopeful attitude," the couple's daughter, identified only as Suzanne, said yesterday in a written statement. "Her tragic death has devastated our family."
The one-page statement was released by the Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii, which is helping the family deal with the death of Ingeborg Zollnor Jandura of Edmonton. The statement said the woman was "extremely healthy and loved to travel, especially to Hawaii."
An Oahu grand jury has indicted the victim's estranged husband, Tadeusz Zygmunt "Ted" Jandura, on a charge of second-degree murder. Police say he admitted to killing his wife at their rented Ilikai Waikiki Hotel unit when officers arrived on Sunday. He is being held without bail.
An autopsy performed this week found more than 100 wounds in Ingeborg Jandura's body.
Aloha Society President Jessica Rich said the couple's son, Al Zygmunt, is on Oahu for funeral arrangements and does not want to speak with his father. The elderly couple had made friends in the islands, said Jim Fulton, of the Honolulu Prosecutor's Office.
Ingeborg Jandura, from Bad Pyrmont, Germany, had been married to Tadeusz Jandura, of Suchodalka, Poland, for 58 years. The couple had a three-month lease on the unit at the Ilikai and had been staying there since Dec. 12.
But their relationship apparently deteriorated over the years, and the couple separated in June 2003, according to documents filed at the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta, Judicial District of Edmonton.
During divorce proceedings -- started in June 2004 but discontinued in June 2005 -- Ingeborg Jandura accused her husband of being "intolerable," forcing her to sleep on the couch and ignoring her back problems, according to an affidavit. She said her husband once tried to push her down the stairs, called her names like "pig" and told others that she ran "around with other men."
In sworn testimony, Ingeborg Jandura said her husband also would follow her to hairdresser appointments, the bank, the doctor and even friends' houses.
"I have been subjected to outrageous and continuous verbal abuse," she said, adding that her husband once said, "There's only one problem: You live too long."
Rich would not comment in detail on the couple's relationship, but said the woman was planning to get a divorce.
"This is a very tragic situation, and they are having a very difficult time dealing with it," Rich said about the family. "Imagine if your father murdered your mother. Nobody should go through that."