Husband charged with first-degree murder of young Simi Valley mother
A young Simi Valley mother was stabbed to death and her four-year-old son was left with a severed artery in the head before her husband allegedly killed her by strangulation with a belt and stomped on her face.
Prosecutors have arrested her husband, Brian Joseph White, for first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Monique White, who was found dead on Dec. 18, 2013, in the home she shared with her husband in Simi Valley.
But the arrest has raised questions about whether police have done enough to arrest a husband accused of killing his wife, the mother of their three children, according to two relatives and two detectives involved in the case.
“I can’t understand why that wasn’t done sooner. It would help to know who to contact. I’d appreciate that very much,” said her cousin, Melissa White.
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The arrest and subsequent charges against Brian Joseph White are the result of a joint investigation by the Simi Valley Police Department and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. The District Attorney’s Office has presented several cases to the police to investigate, including the strangulation of a mother at knife point who later died from her injuries, a domestic violence case involving a woman shot dead by her ex-husband who fled the country and is on the run, and the domestic violence and strangulation of another family member by a relative.
Brian White allegedly stabbed Monique White’s face more than 15 times and strangled her in her own home for more than an hour. A coroner testified on June 12 that the wound to Monique White’s neck was so severe that it caused her to bleed to death. There are no eyewitnesses to the stabbing, but detectives identified Brian White as a suspect through DNA evidence found at the scene.
“In my opinion, Monique’s injuries were consistent with somebody being struck with a high velocity weapon,” said Detective Matt Wysocki, who has been working on the case for the past year. “And that’s consistent with high velocity stabbings.�
