Slay, kidnap brings arrest in Lowell

LOWELL — A 38-year-old man was ordered held without bail in Lowell District Court Tuesday in relation to the “suspicious” death of a man and the alleged rape of a woman in a Queen Street apartment, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

Hoeup Honn was arrested Monday on charges of kidnapping, aggravated rape, and assault and battery causing serious bodily injury. Assistant District Attorney Chris Tarrant said during Honn’s arraignment that he expects the charge of assault and battery to be elevated to a murder charge.

Lowell Police and Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office responded to the incident about 3 p.m. Monday. A female caller reported to authorities that she had been kidnapped, and that she escaped.

Upon arrival, police found the front door of the apartment open, and the body of an unidentified man in his 50s with “obvious signs of facial injury” in the first-floor unit, Tarrant said in court.

A preliminary investigation suggests that Honn broke into his exgirlfriend’s Queen Street apartment building Monday and attacked the first-floor tenant, according to a joint statement by Lowell Police Superintendent Raymond Kelly Richardson and Middlesex DA Marian Ryan.

When the female victim returned home, she found the male victim dead, and was allegedly assaulted and held against her will by Honn, the DA’s office and Lowell Police said. The female victim fled the apartment when Honn fell asleep and used a neighbor’s phone to call for help, according to the statement.

Honn was arrested “without incident,” Lowell police and the DA’s Office said.

During the arraignment Tuesday, Tarant read aloud from statements Honn allegedly gave to police after he was arrested.

Honn explained he and the female victim had dated for three years before breaking up in December.

He told police that he arrived at the Queen Street apartment at approximately 10 p.m. Sunday, saw the female and male victim inside the house, and “got emotional,” Tarrant said in court.

Honn said he broke both sideview mirrors on the female victim’s car, drove around for a while, then realized the female victim had left the residence.

Honn entered the male victim’s apartment through an open window, Tarrant said in court. Honn said he punched the male victim in the face several times, knocked him to the floor and choked him for approximately 45 seconds, Tarrant said while reading from a report.

“Realizing this individual was now deceased, he (the defendant) placed a blanket over him (the male victim),” Tarrant said.

Honn then used the male victim’s cellphone to text the female victim, Tarrant said. When the female victim returned to the house, Honn tied her to a chair, Tarrant said. He later untied her and sexually assaulted her, Tarrant said while reading from the report.

When police asked Honn if the woman told him to stop, he responded, “Did I rape her? If that’s what you want to call it,” Tarrant said in court.

Tarrant requested that Honn be held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing.

“I do expect that the charge of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury as it relates to the male victim in this case will be elevated to (a) murder charge,” Tarrant said.

Judge Stacey Fortes ordered Honn held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing on Sept. 25.