HENRICO COUNTY POLICE
The body of Hassan Ibrahim Ahmad Al-Sari, 50, suspected of killing Kate L. Johnson on Saturday, was pulled from the James River.
By BILL MCKELWAY
Published: June 2, 2010
Updated: June 2, 2010 10:31 AM
A murder followed by a suicide over the weekend brought to a tragic close years of abuse and stalking by a western Henrico County businessman attracted to a mother of four children.
Family members and friends said yesterday that Kate L. Johnson, 40, suffered nearly constant surveillance and feared for her life at the hands of a man with whom she had broken off a romantic relationship but depended on for financial help.
"He followed her everywhere she went; she was in constant fear," said Darlene Bell, a former employee of Johnson's beauty shop who was subpoenaed to testify for her friend in connection with an assault warrant Johnson took out last year on the man who was wanted in her murder Saturday.
Henrico County police yesterday said the body of Hassan Ibrahim Ahmad al-Sari, 50, was discovered Sunday afternoon floating near Rocketts Landing in the James River south of Richmond. The state medical examiner's office said yesterday that al-Sari died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Henrico police reported that tests are being conducted on a weapon found at the Rocketts site to determine if it was used in the shooting death of Johnson.
Johnson, who recently had opened a beauty supply business in the 100 block of West Brookland Park Boulevard, was found shot to death Saturday night outside the Clarion Hotel in the 5200 block of Williamsburg Road.
Charles Johnson, 19, Kate Johnson's oldest son, said yesterday that police told the family that al-Sari apparently had come to the hotel's lounge, found Johnson there and told her to come outside, then shot her multiple times. Henrico police sought the public's help in locating al-Sari over the Memorial Day weekend.
"He was after her all the time," said Charles Johnson, who is trying to operate the business with his three siblings. Yesterday, as he was making funeral arrangements, passers-by hugged him and expressed remorse for his loss. A banner hung above him, shiny with the words "Kates Beauty Express."
Al-Sari was working to set up a competing business across the street, Johnson said: "He wanted to put my mother out of business." Rod Sager, an area attorney, yesterday confirmed he had talked with al-Sari about locating a business in the 100 block of West Brookland Park.
Johnson's new business had relocated from the corner of North Avenue and Brookland Park Boulevard, the site of an encounter last April between al-Sari and Johnson, who shared a romantic and business relationship that began years ago.
Bell said al-Sari owned the home where Johnson lived in the 2200 block of Fourth Avenue in Richmond and also contributed money toward her beauty supply business. The two apparently met because al-Sari had an interest in a gasoline station near the shop.
In April last year, Johnson took out an assault warrant against al-Sari alleging that he had confronted her in the parking lot of her business, one "shared between myself and Hassan," she wrote.
She wrote he began "grabbing and pulling me" and then attacked her and threatened her life as she got into her car. "Hassan reached in and hit me in my mouth, which left a small cut above my lip," she wrote.
A Richmond judge essentially took al-Sari's case under advisement after a hearing in July and then dismissed the charge in November with Johnson's blessing, according to court records.
"She agreed that he be allowed a period of time to prove that he would no longer cause her any difficulties," Peter Baruch, al-Sari's attorney, said yesterday.
Al-Sari had not been in trouble previously, Baruch said.
Baruch said Johnson and al-Sari had a six-year, on-and-off relationship. "They had a business relationship and there was more of a romantic entanglement at some point, which wasn't going well for Ms. Johnson, and she took the charge out" against al-Sari, Baruch said.
"I think what's peculiar -- even during the period of time when [the assault charge] was continued to see if he would be on good behavior -- is they spent friendly time together."
Yesterday, no one answered the door at the home listed for al-Sari in the arrest warrant last year, near the intersection of Pump Road and Ridgefield Parkway in western Henrico.
A slogan on a canopy above a doorway reads, "La Dolce Vita," Italian for "the sweet life."
Contact Bill McKelway at (804) 649-6601 or bmckelway@timesdispatch.com .
Staff writer Mark Bowes and special correspondent Clayton Wickham contributed to this report.
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