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Svetlana Coontz loved her husband. The Russian mail-order bride praised Jeff King and the Rockville-based company that introduced them on the Encounters International Web site in 2005.
"It was a long and not easy search. We spent almost 30 years looking for a life partner on our own," the 46-year-old Harwood woman said after her Sept. 14 wedding.
"I love my husband Jeff and now we are the happiest couple. We are a family. I cannot believe that it happened so fast and easy."
But Sunday afternoon, police said, Mr. King found Ms. Coontz - a native of the city of Astrakhan in southern Russia - dead in the swollen Davidsonville Branch behind his home.
Homicide detectives are investigating what happened, but Lt. David Waltemeyer, a county police spokesman, said they're handling the case like any other drowning. He said detectives found some injuries on her body, but they don't yet know if they were caused by the rushing water, some type of fall, or a criminal act.
"She may have been in the water for several hours, but we can't say how for sure how long," he said.
Mr. King doesn't know exactly what happened.
"My first reaction was that it was a homicide," he said.
Now, however, he suspects that his wife's love of doing "something courageous every day" led her down to see the creek.
"I don't think she'd seen the stream so flooded," he said.
The life
Mrs. Coontz actually came to the United States in the mid-1990s to marry another man.
"It was a big failure," said Natasha Spivack, president and founder of Encounters International, explaining that the marriage quickly ended in divorce.
Mr. King said his wife was virtually homeless after the separation and actually lived in a shelter and worked as a hotel maid for a time.
A former art professor at a Russian college, Mrs. Coontz eventually landed a job in the art department of JCPenney at Westfield Wheaton Plaza.
Mr. King said it wasn't the perfect job - most of the art was selected by the corporate office - but "it was art, though."
Mrs. Spivack said Mrs. Coontz was ready to date again in the summer of 2005. Her fiance visa was about to expire and she started coming to the group's mixers. She met Mr. King at the Russian Embassy in July.
"They met and seemed to be inseparable," she said. Three weeks later, they were married.
Even Mrs. Spivack said that was unusually fast, but she noted that the two social introverts seemed perfect for each other.
"It was almost a miracle," she said.
Mr. King said he loved Mrs. Coontz.
"She was a very dedicated wife. She would hardly let me do anything," he said.
He recalled her obsession with healthy foods that weren't processed and how she quickly got him to adopt the diet.
He said she also got him to convert to the Russian Orthodox Church.
"It's more traditional. I like old things. That's what I do," he said.
Mrs. Spivack said they regularly attended services at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Washington.
Mrs. Coontz was Mr. King's second wife. He said his first wife died in a small plane crash in 1969. He dated some over the next 36 years, but never found another woman he wanted to make his wife.
"She was worth the wait," he said.
The death
Mr. King woke up about 11 a.m. Sunday and didn't see his wife.
"It wasn't that alarming that she wasn't there," he said.
He did some chores for a couple hours, but then started to get "panicky" when she hadn't turned up by 1 p.m.
He said he started walking around his compound at the end of Trails End Road - a collection of buildings where he repairs and remodels antique cars - looking for his wife. He eventually spotted something that looked like a body in the creek.
He said he immediately ran toward the house to call for help, but hesitated and went back to look again. He didn't see a body the second time, but decided to call 911 anyway.
"It was a strange experience," he said.
Police and firefighters responded to the house moments later. It took swift-water rescuers about one hour to find the body several yards down streamn the 2½-foot-deep creek.
Questions
Neighbors say they're suspicious about the death. Police said Mrs. Coontz regularly took walks in the area, but they don't understand why she would go out during a rainstorm.
And John Kramer, who lives next-door to Mr. King, said an officer quickly came out to search his dumpster after he found wet clothing and a life preserver in it Monday.
"If they didn't think it was suspicious, why would they be searching the trash?" he said.
The area behind Mr. King's house is under construction. A large wall is being built between his home and the creek. A makeshift bridge, made out of an old truck chassis, crosses the stream.
"It's not a leisurely walk or anything," Mr. Kramer said.
Protective orders
Ten days before Mrs. Coontz died, a former housemate filed a protective order against her.
According to court records, Mary Martha Ignaczak, now of Annapolis, claimed that Mrs. Coontz jumped on her feet and repeatedly kicked and grabbed her on March 30. She said they were arguing over what happened to some items in Ms. Ignaczak's bedroom.
Mrs. Coontz tried to seek a protective order against Ms. Ignaczak at the same time, but was denied twice, on April 3 and 4.
"We are aware of the protective orders, but there is no indication they are a major factor at this time," said Lt. Waltemeyer.
Mr. King explained that Ms. Ignaczak was an old friend and ex-girlfriend. He said she continued to live with him and his wife for more than a year after they were married, but eventually the two women started fighting.
"I could have done more to make (my wife's) life perfect," Mr. King said, explaining that he wished he had asked Ms. Ignaczak to leave the home sooner than he did.
"She wasn't what she portrayed herself as," he said.
Ms. Ignaczak declined to comment for this story.
Now that his wife is dead, Mr. King said he doesn't know what he will do.
"It really hasn't hit me yet," he said.
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