Hunter awaits arraignment on murders

Joshua S. Hunter, 20, is back in Jefferson County, awaiting arraignment on two counts of second-degree murder.

The arraignment is set for this morning before Jefferson County Judge Kim H. Martusewicz in County Court. He was returned to Watertown late Thursday following a daylong drive by Jefferson County sheriff's deputies from Portsmouth, Ohio, and was placed in a holding cell at the Metro-Jefferson Public Safety Building.

Warrants issued by LeRay Town Justice John W. Hallett and Judge Martusewicz charge him with the "intentional" murders of two fellow Fort Drum soldiers, Waide T. James, 20, and Diego Valbuena, 23, on Sunday or Monday in their residence at The Meadows Apartments, Evans Mills. Hunter, who was a military police officer with the 10th Mountain Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, according to Fort Drum, waived extradition Thursday morning in the municipal court of Portsmouth, Ohio. That cleared the way for authorities to return him to New York without delay.

Portsmouth Municipal Court Judge Russell T. Kegley set bond at $1 million on a fugitive-from-justice charge, and the Scioto County Sheriff's Department turned Hunter over to members of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department. Two deputies were transporting the prisoner, while two others had the department's pickup and trailer to bring back the suspect's car, Sheriff John P. Burns said.

"He's humble and kind of quiet, and scared," the Portsmouth Daily Times quoted Capt. David S. Hall of the Scioto County Sheriff's Department as saying. "He doesn't know the outcome, what's going to happen."

Disclosure Wednesday of Hunter's arrest in the double homicide shocked one of his former neighbors, Lila Lajoie, 326 Clay St.

"He was a very nice person, a sweet guy," Ms. Lajoie said. "He must have snapped."

Hunter and his wife, Emily, who recently separated according to a police source, lived in an apartment at 334 Clay St. for about three months. Ms. Lajoie recalled that she met Mrs. Hunter after the newcomer, while walking down the street, initiated a conversation. The couple had just moved in, but their furnishings had not arrived, so Ms. Lajoie said she offered a helping hand.

"I had them down for dinner," she said. "They were in my house three or four times."

The couple appeared to be very loving, she said, and she was unaware of them having any marital problems.

Hunter even took Ms. Lajoie to get groceries a few times, she said. Never, she said, did he display any attitudes like those expressed on his MySpace page, where he wrote, "I am cold and heartless," and "I will take down anyone who gets in my way by any means necessary."

The couple, Ms. Lajoie said, "kept to themselves, more or less."

Sheriff Burns said Watertown police may have had some dealings with the couple while they were living on Clay Street, but he had no details. A city police source said the encounters were not significant, and did not elaborate.

Ms. Lajoie said she didn't know where the couple moved to after leaving Clay Street. Sheriff Burns said Hunter was an occasional resident of the unit at The Meadows Apartments, Evans Mills, where Waide James and Diego Valbuena lived and were murdered.

Mrs. Hunter was staying at Fort Drum, the sheriff said.