RECORDS: SLAIN WIFE SAID HUSBAND ALWAYS A "BULLY"

Records: Slain wife said husband always a "bully"
Posted by: Muskegon Chronicle
January 14, 2008 16:06PM
Categories: Breaking News, Holland
http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/01/records_slain_wife_said_husban.html
HOLLAND -- After he returned from a tour in Iraq, Kenneth DeKleine, the Holland police officer accused of killing his wife Lori DeKleine, became increasingly abusive, causing her to fear for her safety, she said in court records obtained today.

"He completely walked out in a rage of anger the week he returned from Iraq, without taking his cell phone, calling to say where he went or a phone number where he could be reached," she wrote in a request for a personal protection order. "He was unreachable for nearly 24 hours. I was afraid that he might harm himself or return and harm me."

She also said that he had been a "sexual and emotional bully to me throughout our marriage, beginning on our honeymoon."

Court records show Lori and Ken DeKleine were set to be in court Feb. 7 for a bench trial in their divorce and issues over child custody.

Lori DeKleine received a restraining order against her husband in January 2007, shortly before her husband filed for divorce the following month.

Court records show that a judge also signed an order for a "mutual civil restraining order" in March and granted Lori DeKleine exclusive use of the marital home.

Ken DeKleine, awaiting arraignment today on an open murder charge, objected to the order but subsequent hearings on the issue were all adjourned.

Records show DeKleine immediately objected to the January 2007 restraining order, but hearings to have the order rescinded were repeatedly adjourned, apparently at Ken DeKleine's request.

The restraining order, set to expire on Jan. 31, remained in effect when Lori DeKleine was killed.
DeKleine said in court records that his wife, whose funeral is this afternoon, suffered severe depression and had attempted suicide in the past.

Holland police responded to a reported suicide Thursday at the couple's home where Lori DeKleine was living with their two children.

On Friday, police arrested the husband at work.