It Starts Online, And Ends In Murder

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Claudia Hoerig met her husband -- and alleged victim -- on an online dating site.

Ohio cops are searching for Claudia Hoerig, a woman who they say killed her husband Karl on March 12, 2007 in Newton Falls.

Hoerig met her husband online through a dating service.  After just a six-week courtship, they were married at a chapel in Las Vegas in June 2005.

Even though the marriage was short, prosecutors say it was plenty rocky.  The couple's marital problems were so bad that investigators say Karl spoke to friends and colleagues about how unhappy he was with Claudia, and that he feared what she would do. 

He even allegedly told a fellow Southwest Airlines pilot that he planned to move out of the house on Monday March 12, and that the marriage had always been bad.

Trumbull County Sheriff's deputies say the union reached its worst point on March 12, when Claudia Hoerig shot her husband three times, killing him. 

Then, they say that using her privileges as a wife of a pilot, Hoerig flew first to New York on a free airline ticket the very same day and then on to her native Brazil.

Premeditated And Cruel

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Karl Hoerig told a fellow Southwest Airlines pilot that his marriage was souring and he planned to leave his wife on Monday, March 12th, 2007.

After several days of no one hearing from either Karl or Claudia, friends of the Air Force reservist contacted Karl's family.  They went in to the home and discovered Karl's body.  His wife, Claudia, was nowhere to be found.

Marshals say Claudia Cristina Hoerig, who goes by "Cris," plotted the murder of her husband, who was a decorated hero with the U.S. Armed Forces. 

Prosecutors say that in the days leading up to the murder, Claudia Hoerig went to a Braceville, Ohio gun shop and purchased a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver with a laser tracking device. 

They say she asked the clerk behind the counter what was the best ammunition to kill someone with and bought three boxes of hollow-point bullets.

Investigators found a Warren, Ohio range that Claudia went to for shooting lessons the same day she purchased the handgun. 

Trumbull County Sheriff's detectives even found out that Hoerig had the grip on the revolver fitted to her small hand.

Then, on the day her husband was trying to move out of their Newton Falls home, prosecutors say she used that gun. 

As Karl sat at the bottom of his stairs to tie his shoes, cops say Hoerig fired two of the hollow-point bullets into Karl's back and one -- at point blank range -- in to the back of his head. 

American Hero Fought Terrorism

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Karl Hoerig was a real American hero. The decorated Air Force reservist piloted nearly 200 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan during his military career.

Karl Hoerig was an Air Force reservist who flew nearly 200 combat missions in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  He flew Hercules C-130s and was stationed out of the Youngstown Air Force base. 

The highly-decorated pilot had achieved the rank of Major and continued to pilot part time with the 910th Airlift Wing.  

Karl had very specialized training as one of only ten "sprayers" in the Air Force.  This meant that Karl would go on humanitarian missions to areas struck by natural disasters such as famine and flooding.  In that capacity, Karl flew and sprayed over Katrina-ravaged New Orleans in the late summer of 2005. 

Karl Hoerig had children from a previous marriage and a grandchild on the way at the time of his death.  In addition to them, he leaves behind his parents and two brothers, including one sibling who also works for the Air Force.

Claudia "Cris" Hoerig was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Prosecutors say that Hoerig came to the U.S. in 1989 for work and education.  She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1999 and had previously been married to a New York doctor for 10 years.

U.S. Marshals say that Hoerig fled to the South American country the day of the murder, but she could be anywhere in South America, Central America or the Caribbean.

Congressmen: Brazil Should Extradite Accused Killer

Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-17) and Congressman John Boccieri (OH-16) introduced a resolution calling for Congress to help extradite Hoerig from Brazil. The resolution passed on June 10.

Earlier in the year, Ryan and Boccieri wrote to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, asking for her assistance in bringing Hoerig back to the United States, to face the charges against her.

Congressman Boccieri served in the Air Force with with Karl Hoerig, and considered Hoerig a friend.