Pearl Harbor
sailor charged
with 2 slayings

Investigators say he fatally
struck his wife with an iron skillet

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

A Pearl Harbor sailor has been charged with raping his Singapore-born wife and then killing her and his mother-in-law at their home more than six weeks ago.

Petty Officer 2nd Class David Allen DeArmond, 33, assigned to the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, has been in the Ford Island brig since June 10, when the bodies of Zaleha DeArmond, 31, and Saniah Binte Abdul Ghani, 66, were found on the second story of their home in the Hokulani naval housing complex.

DeArmond is charged with striking his wife in the head with an iron skillet. The Navy said she was raped and her mother was stabbed repeatedly with a knife.

DeArmond could face the death penalty pending the outcome on an Article 32 hearing, which could take place as early as the end of summer and possibly lead to a court martial.

Under military law, murder can be a capital offense, depending on the recommendation of the Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a preliminary hearing.

Besides rape and murder, DeArmond also is charged with abusing his wife's body and impeding the criminal investigation by destroying, moving and tampering with the evidence in the couple's naval housing on Leal Place outside of Pearl Harbor's Nimitz Gate.

The couple's three children, Danny, 5, Courtney, 3, and Brandon, 2, who were found on the lower floor of the house, were unhurt and are being cared for by foster parents.

Zaleha DeArmond's family members have said they thought that she wanted to leave her husband because he was abusive. She met DeArmond in San Diego while on a trip and the two were married in 1996.

Saniah was killed a day before she was supposed to return to Singapore.

In 1994, DeArmond was charged with both domestic abuse and choking his first wife, Jeanette, during an argument and was placed on three months probation.

Sometime before June 10, DeArmond moved out of the housing complex at Leal Place and into the enlisted barracks at Pearl Harbor. Zaleha DeArmond had sought a restraining order May 3, saying her husband trashed the dining table until it broke, threw away the Quran -- the Muslim holy book -- and threw their wedding photo in the toilet, and threatened her.