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WEST JORDAN — Magda Aleman's husband, Israel, came home after a full day of visiting the various restaurants he oversees to find his wife dead on their couch.
"She was bad," Israel Aleman recalled during a hearing in 3rd District Court Wednesday. "I got scared. I had never seen anyone dead."
In his fear, he said he ran to a neighbor's house instead of calling 911. Two separate neighbors came over and confirmed that his wife was deceased.
"I was scared, just wondering how it could be possible she was dead," Israel Aleman said.
Cody Alan Reece, 31, of Millcreek, is charged with killing the mother of three young children while burglarizing her Sandy home, 11436 Tiger Tail Circle (1100 East), on July 13, 2010. Her children were 9, 7 and 3 at the time.
The housewife was slouched on the couch as if she had been shot and had fallen back, testified Sandy police detective Heather Jimenez. She had been shot in the head and a bullet shell casing was on the floor by Magda Aleman's feet.
Apart from the couch, the detective said the rest of the house was remarkably clean. Israel Aleman said he didn't notice anything else out of place or missing in the home.
The same day Magda Aleman was killed, Reece was arrested in connection with a burglary at a home in the same neighborhood. Investigators sent Reece's T-shirt to the Utah State Crime Lab to have several stains on his shirt tested for DNA. The stains turned out to be blood that matched Aleman's DNA, Jimenez said.
But the discovery of the DNA match came after Reece had bailed out of jail and allegedly committed several other crimes.
While Reece was in jail, the man placed a number of calls to his mother and girlfriend telling them that if they didn't get him released, "he was going to get the death penalty," Jimenez testified. The man was not being held in connection with Aleman's slaying at the time.
"He made comments (to his mother from jail) that something had happened," Jimenez said. "He couldn't remember everything, but it was pretty bad."
Reece was again booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Aug. 10 after getting into a foot chase with Salt Lake police. Officers ended up deploying a Taser to take him into custody. In his vehicle, detectives found a loaded handgun under the seat, a stolen assault rifle, drugs, credit cards and burglary tools.
But Reece was able to post bond the very next day and was released from jail.
Seven days later, Reece was tracked down and arrested on outstanding warrants. When Joint Criminal Apprehension Team officers found him, Reece had two more guns in his possession. He was re-booked into jail.
Defense attorney Brock Van De Kamp focused on Israel Aleman, asking him about potential debt from horse racing and whether anyone had an issue with the man or his wife. The man said he didn't start racing horses until after his wife's death and the only time he heard about a rumor of a man at the stables boasting about shooting a woman in Sandy was on the TV news.
"Do you know anyone that hated you?" Van De Kamp asked.
"No," Israel Aleman said, adding that he didn't know anyone who hated his wife.
Israel Aleman said the couple's only debt was from their home and a tax issue caused by some bad accounting. The two talked about finances — debating just before the woman died whether it was wise to take a family trip to Disneyland — but didn't argue or fight.
"We got along beautifully well," he said. "We had three children, we lived well. We were happy."
He said his wife was studying English and business in order to help him with the restaurants.
"She was a happy person," he said, noting that she also knew how to stick up for herself. "If somebody wanted to fight with her, she was not afraid. She would just fight."
Jimenez said the woman had defensive wounds on the back of her left hand.
The preliminary hearing is expected to continue Thursday, when Judge Mark Kouris will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to order Reece to stand trial on charges of capital murder; aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony; and possession of a firearm by a restricted person and obstruction of justice, second-degree felonies.
Email:emorgan@ksl.com
