Woman Strangled, Stored Under Bed, Sheriff Says

An Ashburn man strangled his girlfriend several weeks ago, wrapped her body in plastic and stored it under the bed, then sent e-mails from her account to make it appear she was alive, Loudoun County Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson said yesterday.

David E. Cavalieri, 40, called 911 about 10 a.m. Wednesday, saying he was suffering from self-inflicted stab wounds, authorities said. When rescue workers arrived at the condominium on Timber Ridge Terrace, they took him to Inova Fairfax Hospital for treatment and looked around to see whether anyone else was there.

It was then they saw the body under the bed, Simpson said.

"She'd been there for several weeks, wrapped in plastic, underneath the bed," he said. "That's pretty unusual. . . . You've seen people hide and dispose of bodies, but I personally do not know of a case [in Loudoun] where someone wraps someone up and hides them within the house they were living in."

Cavalieri was treated and released Wednesday from the hospital and is being held in the county jail without bond. He was charged late that night with first-degree murder. Simpson said it appears the slaying followed an argument over money.

An autopsy yesterday confirmed that the woman -- whose name has not been released, pending a positive identification -- died of strangulation, Simpson said.

Sheriff's Office spokesman Kraig Troxell said deputies had been called to the address for domestic disputes but declined to say how many times.

Neighbors in the Westmaren Condominiums complex said they had heard the couple arguing on occasion in the past several months but had not seen the woman recently.

Upstairs neighbor Laura Eilers, 40, said she last saw Cavalieri walking his dog, Bubba, on Monday. Eilers said that the couple moved in in May and that she last heard them arguing in March.

At the hospital, Cavalieri alluded to a deputy that he was hiding something at his residence, Simpson said.

"He indicated there was something else in . . . the apartment," Simpson said. "He said, 'But you probably already know that' . . . or something to that effect . . . and the deputy said, 'Yes, we do.' "