Woman Accused of Beating Ex-Landlord to Death with Hammer

A 43-year-old woman in Massachusetts is accused of beating her former landlord to death with a hammer over forged checks.

The suspect allegedly forged the checks using his name, NBC News reported Friday.

Xiu Fang Ke of Newton was arraigned on a murder charge Wednesday following the death of the former landlord, 65-year-old Leonard Garber, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

Once he was reported missing police went to the residence Monday to check on him but were unable to locate him.

They visited twice more and eventually found his body the next day where it was wrapped in a curtain under a pile of items.

A photo showed the suspect in custody with an officer standing nearby:

Mass. woman charged in friend's hammer death over forged checks https://t.co/aySEFc7MjW pic.twitter.com/9HI0CoXh4N

— New York Post (@nypost) September 29, 2022

The two individuals had reportedly been seeing each other, however, she was accused of forging checks from his accounts and stealing over $40,000.

But when Garber learned what happened and confronted Ke, according to the NBC article, she allegedly killed him and tried to hide the body.

Surveillance footage reportedly showed Ke going into the home a few days before authorities located his body.

Another instance involving the same kind of weapon happened last month when an alleged shoplifter wielded a hammer at an elderly laundromat employee in Brooklyn, according to Breitbart News.

WARNING – GRAPHIC VIDEO:

🚨WANTED-ROBBERY: 8/4/22 approx. 4:55AM, inside 255 E 98 St @NYPD73PCT Brooklyn. The suspect hit a 70-year-old employee that attempted to stop him from stealing items from the laundromat. Any info call us at 800-577-TIPS or use https://t.co/TRPPY5zHV2 Reward up to $3,500 pic.twitter.com/vHC3YXOTaQ

— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) August 10, 2022

Surveillance video showed the employee trying to wrestle the hammer and stolen items away “but the suspect uses the hammer to hit the elderly man what appears to be four times,” the outlet said.

Breitbart News has reported extensively on hammer attacks perpetrated across the nation throughout the past few years.

According to the NBC article, prosecutors claimed there was evidence the woman had stolen checks in the past and that she owed gambling debts. She was ordered held without bail.

Meanwhile, a recent survey found violent crime in cities across President Joe Biden’s (D) America jumped by over four percent during the first six months of this year.

“Compared to 2019 crime rates, some cities have seen a doubling in murders and a 36 percent increase in aggravated assaults,” according to Breitbart News.