A Honolulu man has been arrested, accused of killing his wife in San Diego seven years ago.
Anthony Edward Simoneau, 46, of Honolulu, Hawaii is in custody awaiting extradition on one count of murder in the San Diego County homicide investigation.
Local prosecutors worked with Honolulu police to arrest Simoneau Thursday at his home in connection with the discovery of his wife’s body in the Anza Borrego Desert.
Forty-one-year-old Fumiko Ogawa, a Japanese national, was last seen near her and Simoneau's home in Point Loma around Jan. 4, 2007.
At the time, it was her family in Japan -- not Simoneau-- who notified police that she was missing. When SDPD investigators interviewed her husband, he told them she had gone to Hawaii, police say.
Her body was found in a shallow grave near the Bow Willow Campground on Jan. 20, 2007.
Her remains were unidentified until a DNA match was made four years later.
Local
Simoneau has denied killing his wife, but police identified him as a suspect after learning he had sought a divorce before her death.
The suspect reportedly changed his mind after his wife inherited a large sum of money, NBC News reports. He later went on a spending spree, apparently buying multiple cars and boats.
A former Point Loma neighbor of Simoneau's told NBC 7 that investigators tore through his old San Diego apartment on Upshur Street.
"They took it all apart, looking for... I believe it was blood evidence," said Point Loma resident Jeanne Denon. "They removed all the carpeting and maybe even studied some of the walls."
Simoneau's extradition hearing is set for Sept. 8 in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, where he has been working as a tour guide. He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted on the murder charge.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
