Seattle Times staff reporter
A 62-year-old exterminator from Federal Way fatally poisoned his wife of 10 years last fall with a massive dose of strychnine, a chemical commonly found in professional-grade rodent bait, police said in court documents.
Two of Joseph Naimo's three adult sons, who all came to support their father, burst into angry tears Thursday in a King County Jail courtroom in Seattle as a District Court judge set bail at $5 million.
As they left the courtroom fuming, the sons declined to speak. But the 37-year-old daughter of the dead woman said, "He's not guilty."
Federal Way police detectives arrested Naimo Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree murder in the Nov. 28 death of Ann Marie Naimo, 53. Prosecutors have until Tuesday to file formal charges.
No obvious motive has been identified, police said.
Police and paramedics were called to the Naimo home at 2840 South 308th Lane the day after Thanksgiving, to find Ann Naimo unconscious and without a pulse, police said. They couldn't revive her.
In the home, Joseph Naimo was pacing and had been drinking, according to police documents. He said the couple had been to a casino, then argued about her drinking. A few minutes later, she had started vomiting and then collapsed, police said he told them.
Police learned Ann Naimo had suffered from heart disease, and saw no signs of foul play, according to the documents. An autopsy initially found nothing suspicious.
But then in January, police said, the King County Medical Examiner's Office alerted them that blood tests had come back showing lethal levels of strychnine in the woman's blood.
Police also learned that Naimo was the general manager of AAA Pest Control in Kent. The company's owner had paid for Ann Naimo's funeral arrangements.
Over the following weeks, police said, Joseph Naimo gave police and others conflicting accounts of how his wife had died. Later, in February, police purposely lied to Naimo when they told him his wife had apparently died from taking too many prescription pills, and he "was visibly relieved," the police documents say.
Police said they researched strychnine and found that it acts quickly and painfully to severely disrupt the nervous system. They concluded that the only person home with Ann Naimo when she would have ingested the poison was her husband, the documents said.
They also found that strychnine is easily obtained as a rodenticide, and Joseph Naimo had a license to buy it through his job at the pest-control company.
In court Thursday, Deputy Prosecutor Jimmy Hung asked the judge for the high bail, saying he was concerned that Naimo could flee if released. Hung said Naimo had "very calculatingly" killed his wife and then "did a very good job of hiding his tracks."
Naimo, in red jail scrubs, remained silent. But his lawyer, Norm Partington, of Seattle, argued that $500,000 bail would be sufficient. Seven months have passed since Ann Naimo's death, Partington said. So if Naimo were planning to flee, he would have already.
The attorney said Naimo has been very upset by his wife's death. He said the couple were "happily married." And he pointed out that his children — and Ann Naimo's daughter — were standing by him.
"He's got property here," Partington said. "He's got a business here. He's got his entire family here. There's nowhere else for him to go."
Ian Ith: 206-464-2109 or iith@seattletimes.com
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