‘Best Man’ Charged in NC Woman’s Fatal Stabbing
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ABC(NEW YORK) — A North Carolina political strategist died from stab wounds after she and her husband were allegedly attacked in their home by their close friend and best man from their wedding.
Jonathan Broyhill, 31, is recovering from “self-inflicted wounds” and was charged with attempted murder after police say he attacked Jamie Hahn, 29, and wounded her husband, Nation, 27, in their Raleigh home Monday night.
Jamie Hahn, who helped raise money for Democrat John Edwards’ 2008 presidential campaign, died two days later from her injuries. The charge against Broyhill has yet to be upgraded and it’s unclear whether he has entered a plea.
Nation Hahn has since been released from the hospital with stab wounds to his hands and forearms.
By all accounts, the three were close friends for a number of years. Broyhill stood beside Nation Hahn as his best man when he married Jamie during the couple’s 2009 wedding.
“I’ve seen him on many occasions because he was practically like part of the family. That’s how much time he spent at their house,” Pamela Hung, a neighbor of the Hahns, said.
The Hahns are a well-known, politically active couple. Jamie Hahn was running a political fundraising firm, Sky Blue Strategies, where Broyhill worked as an accountant.
Former Democratic Rep. Brad Miller, who was one of the firm’s clients, said Broyhill was under mounting suspicion in the weeks leading up to Hahn’s slaying over funds missing from Miller’s 2010 campaign.
Miller said the Federal Election Commission sent his 2010 campaign a letter last fall about five donors whose funds never arrived.
“The FEC did send a letter that I just found out about today and the letter was to John Wallace, the campaign treasurer, and he just found out about it today, he told me,” Miller told ABC News affiliate WTVD-TV on Thursday.
Miller alleges that Broyhill would have received that letter, but never showed it to him or his treasurer. Miller said he suspects that Jamie Hahn was pressing Broyhill about the missing money.
“Jamie was part of our campaign,” Miller said. “She was one of those who was asking more and more aggressive questions, more and more insistent questions of Jon.”
Police have declined to comment on a potential motive, but investigators say it was not a domestic incident. They’ve also declined to describe Broyhill’s “self-inflicted wounds.”
Broyhill told people and members of his church that he was suffering from pancreatic cancer and asking for donations, according to Rev. Nancy Petty, pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. Police have said Broyhill’s claim was false and he never suffered from cancer.
A funeral will be held on Saturday for Jamie Hahn.
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