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911 caller says he killed his wife in Southington
By Ed Runyan
SOUTHINGTON
A Southington man called 911 shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday, saying he had just killed his wife.
Deputies with the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office found the story to be true when they arrived, found the man still in the house and took him from the home in the back of a cruiser at 2:10 p.m.
He is being held in the Trumbull County Jail, but there was no booking information or photo as of 4:30 p.m., when the sheriff’s office closed.
Trumbull County Sheriff Thomas Altiere said the sheriff’s office was not releasing the name of the man or woman as of Tuesday afternoon but said the killing appears to have been a domestic problem, and the man “gave himself up” peacefully. Altiere said the woman had been shot to death.
The shooting took place at 4480 County Line-Turnpike Road, a couple of miles south of West Farmington. It is the home of Royce and Donna Honaker, according to court documents, including the divorce Royce Honaker filed against Donna in April, according to Trumbull County court records.
A next-door neighbor, Myra Hrudka, said she didn’t know the couple well but knew that both had worked at the Ford stamping plant in Walton Hills near Cleveland until Royce became ill.
Hrudka said she thinks Donna lost her job as a result of job reductions at the plant, which is scheduled to close by 2014. She said the Honakers were in their late 50s.
The Trumbull County auditor’s website says the Honakers purchased the 3,000-square-foot, $248,000 home in 1999. The home is on 18 wooded acres and set back from the road. The home is not visible from the street.
A for-sale sign is posted in the front yard, and the Howard-Hanna website lists the asking price as $320,000. Neighbors say the house has been for sale about a month.
In the divorce filing, Royce Honaker accused Donna Honaker of “extreme cruelty, gross neglect of duty and incompatibility.” He also accused her of “engaging in a pattern of behavior to annoy, molest, harass and otherwise cause harm” to him.
He sought a mutual restraining order to prevent any further selling or otherwise disposal of marital assets, the filing said.
Judge Richard James of Trumbull County Family Court approved the mutual restraining order with regard to property and additional debt.
The Honakers. who had been married 41 years, have grown children and were still living together at the time of the divorce filing, court records say.