Suspect in slaying faces earlier charge of assault

A Camp Lejeune Marine charged in connection with the death of another Marine's wife was charged with assaulting his own wife in April.

Kyle Ryan Alden, 22, of 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, was charged Monday by the Fayetteville Police Department with felony accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit first-degree arson.

Authorities say he helped a colleague, John Wimunc, 23, also of 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, in an attempt to cover up the killing of Wimunc's wife, Fort Bragg soldier 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc.

In April, an investigative sergeant with the Onslow County Sheriff's Department was dispatched to the Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital because Alden's wife, Dawn Alden, 44, said her husband had assaulted her.

"I spoke to the victim who stated her husband does this all the time," Sgt. Shannon Albright wrote in his April 12 report. "He will grab her, push her but he never hits her."

Albright reported that the Aldens argued over a cell phone and that Kyle Alden wanted Dawn Alden to get in his truck. When she refused, Albright reported, "the suspect picked her up and threw her into the back of the truck."

Dawn Alden told Albright that she got away from her husband and got into her car, and Kyle Alden chased her in his truck.

Dawn Alden had no physical injuries at the time, according to the report.

Albright stated in his report that he advised Dawn Alden she could file a warrant for her husband's arrest at the magistrates office. Dawn Alden later left the hospital without being discharged, according to the report.

Dawn Alden filed a complaint with a magistrate, and Kyle Alden was arrested April 13 on a charge of misdemeanor assault on a female.

Kyle Alden is accused of "punching, pulling and twisting (Dawn Alden's) arm," according to the warrant.

A message left for Dawn Alden at her home was not returned by press time.

Kyle Alden has a July 28 court date in Onslow County for the assault charge. His next expected court date in Cumberland County for the accessory charge is set for Aug. 5.

Kyle Alden and John Wimunc are being held in the Cumberland County Detention Center with no bond for the charges related to Holley Wimunc's death.

John Wimunc was charged Monday by Fayetteville police with first-degree murder, first-degree arson and conspiracy to commit first-degree arson.

Their arrest came less than 24 hours after forestry service personnel found a dismembered body believed to be Holley Wimunc, knives and a hatchet in a wooded area off Old Folkstone Road in Sneads Ferry on Sunday.

The wooded area - down a dirt road less than a mile from Alden's house on Eagle's Nest Drive - is littered with bags of trash, beer cans, broken furniture, shell casings and shotguns shells.

"People go back there four-wheeling all the time, late at night sometimes," said Iola Brown, an Old Folkstone Road resident who lives across the road from the entrance to the dirt road.

John Wimunc was questioned by Fayetteville police after his wife was reported missing and her apartment was set on fire on July 10.

In May, Holley Wimunc secured a temporary restraining order against her husband. She told authorities he got drunk and held a loaded handgun to her head.

Marine officials would not comment on whether a military protective order - similar to a civilian restraining order - had been issued against John Wimunc or Kyle Alden.

"Military Protective Orders are an administrative tool and as such are protected under the privacy act. Therefore information related to MPOs will not be released to the public," Maj. Cliff W. Gilmore, spokesman for the 2nd Marine Division, told The Daily News in an e-mail Wednesday.

Agents with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service deferred all questions about the case to the Fayetteville Police Department.

When contacted about Alden's April arrest, Fayetteville police said they had not heard about the charge but would be looking into the past of both men now that they are in custody.

"We don't know a lot about them at this point, but we are now gathering that information," Fayetteville police Lt. David Sportsman said. "This case turned over so fast that we had to concentrate on what was hot at the time, but now we will follow up on every aspect of the suspects' lives."