Kathy Pinna
Scottsdale torso murderer to be deported
. . . to France after serving time
A former Arizona beauty salon owner will be deported to her native France now that she has completed her 16-year prison sentence for killing her husband, who was dismembered after death. Former Scottsdale, Arizona, resident Valerie Pape is being held at a federal detention facility in Eloy, Arizona, pending deportation, said Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe, a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman.
The case generated notoriety in part because only the torso of 60-year-old Ira Pomerantz was recovered. The torso was found in a garbage bin in January 2000 shortly after Pomerantz was fatally shot. Pape got credit for time already served and completed her sentence in late January, a development first reported by Phoenix New Times. Pape originally was charged with first-degree, but she pleaded guilty in 2002 to second-degree murder under a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Court documents say Pape is a French citizen who was born in Rennes. Pitts O'Keefe, the ICE spokeswoman, said Friday she did not know when Pape would be deported. Timings of removals depend on various factors, including flight arrangements and coordination with the other government, she said.
The French government agreed in 2006 to have Pape transferred to that country to finish serving her sentence under an international treaty on prisoner exchanges.
However, Arizona scuttled the transfer after daughters of Pomerantz voiced concerns about uncertainty about how the sentence would be served in France.
Prosecutors said in 2002 their decision to reach a plea deal with Pape was based in part on evidence of a stormy relationship between Pape and Pomerantz, including an incident that apparently occurred just before the killing.
In pleading guilty, Pape acknowledged killing Pomerantz, but the plea agreement did not require her to say who, if anyone, helped her dispose of the body.
Police found a receipt in her purse showing she'd purchased a saw at a hardware store weeks before the killing.
After her arrest in January 2000, news reports detailed Pape's strained marriage, big debts, and her relationship with another man.
- Associated Press, Feb 26 2016
A former Arizona beauty salon owner will be deported to her native France now that she has completed her 16-year prison sentence for killing her husband, who was dismembered after death. Former Scottsdale, Arizona, resident Valerie Pape is being held at a federal detention facility in Eloy, Arizona, pending deportation, said Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe, a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman.
The case generated notoriety in part because only the torso of 60-year-old Ira Pomerantz was recovered. The torso was found in a garbage bin in January 2000 shortly after Pomerantz was fatally shot. Pape got credit for time already served and completed her sentence in late January, a development first reported by Phoenix New Times. Pape originally was charged with first-degree, but she pleaded guilty in 2002 to second-degree murder under a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Court documents say Pape is a French citizen who was born in Rennes. Pitts O'Keefe, the ICE spokeswoman, said Friday she did not know when Pape would be deported. Timings of removals depend on various factors, including flight arrangements and coordination with the other government, she said.
The French government agreed in 2006 to have Pape transferred to that country to finish serving her sentence under an international treaty on prisoner exchanges.
However, Arizona scuttled the transfer after daughters of Pomerantz voiced concerns about uncertainty about how the sentence would be served in France.
Prosecutors said in 2002 their decision to reach a plea deal with Pape was based in part on evidence of a stormy relationship between Pape and Pomerantz, including an incident that apparently occurred just before the killing.
In pleading guilty, Pape acknowledged killing Pomerantz, but the plea agreement did not require her to say who, if anyone, helped her dispose of the body.
Police found a receipt in her purse showing she'd purchased a saw at a hardware store weeks before the killing.
After her arrest in January 2000, news reports detailed Pape's strained marriage, big debts, and her relationship with another man.
- Associated Press, Feb 26 2016
