UPDATE: FRIEND SAYS SLAIN WOMAN FEARED HUSBAND

Update: Friend says slain woman feared husband
Posted by John Tunison and John Agar
January 13, 2008 02:36AM
Muskegon Chronicle
Categories: Breaking News, Holland, Ottawa County
http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/01/update_friend_says_slain_woman.html
HOLLAND --The wife of a Holland police officer now accused of murdering her was afraid of him and had a personal protection order to keep him away, a neighbor said.

"I know she was scared of him and didn't want him in the house," said Victoria Paauwe, the next-door neighbor of Lori DeKleine, 43.

Officer Ken DeKleine, 44, is expected to be arraigned Monday in Holland District Court on a charge of open murder for his wife's death. Her body was found late Thursday in her Calvin Avenue home in the Holland Heights neighborhood by her teen son.

The arrest and death stunned many in the community, including retired officers who know DeKleine well and described him as an easy-going cop known to defuse tough situations.

He was the last anyone suspected in something like this, retired Sgt Mark Bos said. Officers knew they could count on him.

"If somebody would have ever said, 'Is Ken DeKleine even capable of something like that?' I'd have bet him a million dollars, no way," Bos said. "It's tragic. It's a shame. Now, we've got two teen-agers and no parents."

Paauwe said Lori DeKleine took out the protection order against her husband several months ago. He was asked to leave the home, and did, sometime after Christmas 2006, she said.

The DeKleines, the parents of two Holland Christian High School students, were well-known in the community and at their church, Holland Heights Christian Reformed Church, where Lori was publications editor.

Services for Lori DeKleine are 1 p.m. Monday at the church, with visitation 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Sunday.