HUSBAND ARRESTED
OVER MAIL-ORDER WIFE'S DEATH

FROM "TIMES"BY LAURA PEEK

The American husband of a Russian mail-order bride has been arrested after the body of his wife of two years was found in a shallow grave in Washington State.

Anastasia Soloveva King, 20, who went missing in September, was Indle King's second mail-order bride. Her decomposed body was found in woodland in Northwest Washington. Police were led to the body by an anonymous tip-off.

Friends and family reported Mrs King missing in September, when she failed to return after a visit to her parents in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in the former Soviet Union. Mr. King, 39 said he and his wife had argued in the airport in Moscow and she told him that she planned to stay in Russia. Police said that they both returned on the same flight and passed through customs one minute apart.

Mr. King told police that he did not know she was on the same flight. He filed for divorce in August, but told police he went to Russian in September hoping to salvage the relationship.

According to court documents, he claimed that his wife was hiding from him to avoid being served with divorce papers and being deported. Court documents also show that Mrs. King had taken steps to obtain a divorce. She had recently enrolled in classes at the University of Washington. She had also hired an immigration lawyer and secured a one-year extension of her visa.

The Kings met through an international matchmaking agency that provides women's addresses and names. Mr. King had met his first wife in the same way, but they divorced after she obtained permanent resident status.