Socialite's Death Rivets DC-Bizarre Georgetown Couple Welcomed DC Elite Their Foreign-Policy Salon

[RamboLiberal]

The capital was riveted this week by the apparent strangling death of a 91-year-old socialite, but not just because the victim's 47-year-old husband was arrested. It was because her husband—a German claiming to be an Iraqi army general—was known for hosting dozens of the city's power brokers at outlandish soirées in Georgetown.

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An obituary Mr. Muth submitted to the Washington Post said she died after "sustaining a head injury from a fall." But, according to the criminal complaint, the medical examiner found bruising and abrasions on her neck and scalp consistent with strangulation and blunt-force injuries.

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Over the years, the couple's gatherings attracted Washington A-listers, including—according to signatures in the guest book—Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Army Vice Chief of Staff Peter Chiarelli and Anne Patterson, the U.S. ambassador to Egypt. Other notables on past Muth invitation lists: former Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmit, who helped negotiate the U.S. exit from Iraq, and the head the Selective Service System, Lawrence Romo.

The couple co-hosted their foreign-policy salons, but Mr. Muth, a man with military bearing and a heavy German accent, tended to dominate the conversation. He often admonished his wife to "shut up," according to several guests, including this Wall Street Journal reporter, who attended one such dinner at the Q Street home in April.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904070604576514810733040154.html

WASHINGTON — The husband of a slain German-born socialite had scratches on his forehead after the 91-year-old woman was killed, and he presented her relatives with a forged letter stating that he was entitled to a $150,000 payment upon her death, police said Wednesday.

Albrecht Muth, 47, was ordered held without bail on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Viola Drath. Charging documents say Drath, a journalist who wrote frequently on German-American relations, died of strangulation and blunt-force trauma.

The couple wed in 1990 in what Muth has described as a “marriage of convenience” and entertained diplomats at their off-yellow row house in the well-heeled Georgetown neighborhood. But their relationship was plagued by infidelity and allegations of violence.

Muth also made outlandish claims about working for the Iraqi army, though police said he had no formal job and was supported by his wife with a monthly $2,000 allowance.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts-law/husband-of-slain-german-socialite-due-in-court-on-charges-he-killed-her-in-million-dollar-home/2011/08/17/gIQAxuhSLJ_story.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. So, Tony the Fixer (R) partied down with the, um, "Bizarre Couple"...Interesting.

"Shut up." - Mr. Muth (R - Bizarre Couple)

"Vaffanculo." - Tony the Fixer (R - SupremO)