WASHINGTON – A McLean couple who were tortured and stabbed in their home last November described their brutal attack in an emotional hearing in Fairfax County District Court Tuesday.
Leo Fisher and his wife Sue Duncan were bound, separated and stabbed during a torture session that police have said lasted for hours.
Fisher testified that he watched as his wife was shot in the head and believed that she had been killed. He described answering the door to find a man in uniform, who immediately stunned and then bound Fisher. He was questioned for hours before his throat was slit.
Duncan worried that her husband, who had recently undergone heart bypass surgery, would have another heart attack during the bizarre line of questioning about drug cartels, emails and threats against Fisher. She cried as she described seeing her husband’s throat cut. In addition to the gun wound to her head, she was stabbed repeatedly when she kept trying to crawl and find a phone.
“It finally occurred to me, I’d have to pretend to be dead until I thought he was gone,” Duncan testified.
Fisher says that he eventually recognized Schmuhl, who was wearing a large Australian-style brimmed hat and long coat, as the husband of his former employee. He had fired Alecia Schmuhl a few weeks earlier from her attorney job with the law firm Bean, Kinney & Korman. He gave police Andrew Schmuhl’s name and spelling when help finally arrived.
Andrew and Alecia Schmuhl, of Springfield, face charges of abduction and malicious wounding for the attack. They both attended the hearing wearing green jump suits and each accompanied by their own set of lawyers.
Alecia Schmuhl’s attorney argued that she was never seen or heard in the house.
Police found her behind the wheel of the getaway car when they eventually tracked down the Schmuhls the night of the attack. Police also found the stun gun, the knife and the gun all used in the attack in the car.
Duncan reported seeing a woman on the family’s deck and hearing a woman’s voice. She didn’t know Alecia Schmuhl well and didn’t recognize the voice.
Six other witnesses were expected to testify during the lengthy hearing.
Andrew Schmuhl is also a lawyer and has served as judge advocate general for the Army. He had performed consulting work for the same law firm where his wife and Fisher worked.
WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report from Fairfax, Virginia.
