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Claudia Hoerig had history of marital problems
By Ed Runyan
NEWTON FALLS
Claudia Hoerig, 51, accused of killing her husband, Karl Hoerig, on March 12, 2007, in their Ninth Street home, was a challenging woman to live with, according to documents and interviews from 2007.
Brazilian authorities arrested her Wednesday after the country’s top court revoked her citizenship on Tuesday. U.S. officials are asking for her to be brought back to the United States to stand trial in Trumbull County in Karl Hoerig’s murder.
Claudia, also known by her middle name, Cristina, had been married to Karl only 20 months, and Karl was planning to move out of their home March 12, Karl told a fellow pilot for United Airlines on March 9.
Karl had told the other pilot he and Claudia were having marital troubles, and their marriage had been rocky from the beginning. She had fired a gun inside of their house, Karl had said, and he repaired the damage.
An affidavit filed with the courts in Trumbull County based on an investigation conducted by Detective Pete Pizzulo of the sheriff’s office said Karl Hoerig told the other pilot he feared what Claudia’s reaction would be when he left her.
Karl Hoerig’s body was found March 15, after he failed to show up for training with the 910th Tactical Airlift Wing at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna, where he flew C-130s. Colleagues at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station asked police to check on him.
By then Claudia had fled back to Brazil, using a flight from Pittsburgh provided to her because her husband was a commercial pilot. She left behind more than 900 personal items, including 77 pairs of shoes, 59 dresses, 19 business suits, 12 coats and more than 69 sweaters, the affidavit states.
Claudia attempted suicide about a month before her husband’s death by taking a large amount of pills and crashing her car, the police chief of Newton Falls at the time, Robert Carlson, told The Vindicator.
She had also bought a .357-caliber revolver with a laser-tracking device two days before the shooting and took target practice with it, the affidavit said.
Claudia was unemployed at the time of Karl’s killing, but she was a certified public accountant, Carlson said. A neighbor on Ninth Street said Karl was a “workaholic,” and his wife worked long hours when she did work.
Karl was 43 when he died, Claudia was then 42.
Claudia was born in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, on Aug. 23, 1964, and was married the first time to Dr. Thomas J. Bolte of New York City from May 1990 to September 1999. She first came to the United States Oct. 4, 1989, according to documents.
Bolte told investigators Claudia was both physically and mentally abusive to him during their marriage, which dissolved primarily because of his wife’s dishonesty about the couple’s finances.
She had more than 20 credit cards during their marriage and used them to wire funds to her account in Brazil, where she bought properties, he said.
When he confronted Claudia about the finances, she served him with divorce papers, he said.
A Newton Falls native and 1982 Newton Falls High School graduate, Karl also was a major in the Air Force, flying 400 hours in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.