Murder In Georgetown

She is dead, he is charged with her murder. My recollections of Albrecht Muth and Viola Drath.

Comments

[E. Gordon]

I don't know where to start. I was anxious to read your article and have been fascinated by this story which has received a great deal of attention in the media. Your account of Mr. Muth and the late Mrs. Drath was both provocative and disconcerting. I suppose in the blogosphere, editorializing is the common practice but I found your portrayal of Mrs Drath to be highly speculative, broad based and in the poorest of taste. To assert, on any level, that Mrs. Drath's eyes "shot daggers" at Mr. Muth and that she (in her "haughty and "severe" manner) essentially had him running around like an anxious servant seems dangerously close to finding sympathy for the man charged with killing her. The police report shows that Mrs. Drath suffered multiple lacerations, fractured ribs and was the victim of strangulation. You mention feeling Mr. Muth's pain, can you even begin to imagine the amount of pain this man inflicted on the 91 year old woman. I can't begin to guess the interworkings of their relationship but I do know that nothing she could have done excuses this behavior. Mr. Muth's history of violence goes beyond his wife to include a former male lover he threatened to kill (according to a restraining order) which should help demonstrate that this man might have been an antagonist despite any tension in the home. Domestic violence of this magnitude should not be trivialized or mitigated in any way. I believe respect for a recently deceased woman, who by all other accounts(see Washington Post article of this date)was quite lovely, should trump any subjective anecdotes you may have felt compelled to share.

[Georgetowner]

You should be ashamed of yourself, Carol. People in glass houses... [email protected]

[Steve D.]

Oh, make that 44 years her junior. My apologies for that substantial oversight.
~Steve~

[Steve D.]

In my opinion they were both "light headed." Well, in her case, perhaps as her age progressed her mental capacity digressed. As for Albrecht, one can only assume his motives for taking the vows of marriage to a woman 30 years his senior. I know your eyebrow was raised just a little when you first learned of that fact. From your story,Viola definitely seemed to be the one wearing the pants in the family. Was he pushed to that breaking point to lash out one last time only this time to much more frail woman then in days past? Is Albrecht now living in a parallel universe were he thinks he is a General of sorts in the Iraqi Army? So much lies in the investigative evidence we haven't learned yet. I think we'll see him getting psychological evaluated, not being fit for trial and sent to a mental ward to live the rest of his demented life. As for Viola, may God rest her troubled soul.