10 things about Lafayette, Louisiana native Holley James

Holley Lynn James Wimunc was an alumna of St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is a private Catholic university founded in 1882 as a school of commerce for young men.

BIOGRAPHY

Wimunc was an American army nurse. She is Beaux James‘ sister and was John Patrick Wimunc‘s wife.

John was a U.S. Marine Corps corporal assigned to the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion of the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Holley was 1 year older than him.

Holley is a mother of two. Here are 10 more things about her:

1. She was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA.
2. She lived in Dubuque, Iowa.
3. She spent most of her childhood near Andrew, Iowa.
4. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from St. Ambrose University.
5. From Iowa, she moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA.
6. John is not the father of her two children.
7. In 1994, her father Jesse James joined the staff at the University of Dubuque in Dubuque as dean of admissions after retiring from the armed forces.
8. In 2000, she transferred to Stephen Hempstead High School in Dubuque while she was in 10th grade and became a cheerleader.
9. In 2007, she and John got married and she was stationed as a nurse at Fort Bragg, a U.S. Army installation in North Carolina.
10. In 2008, she died at age 24.

TIMELINE

Holley served as the secretary of the Iowa Association of Nursing Students. While stationed at Fort Bragg, she worked at the mother and baby ward of Womack Army Hospital in Fayetteville.

2006

• From February 2006 to September 2006, her husband John served one tour in Iraq.

2007

•  In May 2007, she was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.
• In July 2007, her husband John was deployed to a non-combat zone.
• On December 12, 2007, she turned 24.

2008

• In January 2008, her husband John’s deployment to a non-combat zone ended.
• In May 2008, she secured a temporary restraining order against John after he got drunk and held a loaded handgun to her head and his.
• On the evening of July 8, 2008, she went out with friends and used her automated teller machine card. 
• On July 9, 2008, John shot her in the head in her apartment in Fayetteville while they were going through a divorce. He dismembered her body, burned the apartment and wrapped her burned body in an air mattress. With the help of his fellow U.S. Marine Corps corporal Kyle Ryan Alden, then 22, he tried to destroy evidence and buried her in a shallow grave near Camp Lejeune.
• On July 10, 2008, she was reported missing.
• On July 13, 2008, John was arrested on suspicion of her murder and Alden was arrested for covering up the murder. On the same day, firefighters responded to a brush fire in a wooded area near Camp Lejeune and found her remains.
• On July 14, 2008, John was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree arson and conspiracy to commit second-degree arson and Alden was charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder, second-degree arson and conspiracy to commit second-degree arson in connection with her murder.

2009

• On September 2, 2009, prosecutors announced their plan to seek death penalty against John because he not only killed her but also endangered others by trying to burn her apartment.

2010

• On September 13, 2010, John pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in her death and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.