Man's Arrest In Wife's Murder Came After He Told Ex About The Crime, Investigators Say

A Colorado man was arrested last week on a first-degree murder charge in the death of his wife after police recorded him telling his ex-wife of the killing, according to an affidavit signed by a Colorado detective.

Dane Kallungi, 37, was arrested on June 16 in New Mexico after a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was booked into a Colorado jail on Monday, accused of first-degree murder in the killing of his 28-year-old wife, Jepsy Kallungi. The two-year investigation ended with his arrest after audio of him telling his ex-wife, Alaine Kallungi, that he’d killed Jepsy two years prior was heard by police, according to an affidavit obtained by Oxygen.com.

On March 26, Dane Kallungi, who had moved to California, allegedly told Alaine over lunch while he was back in Colorado Springs that he had killed Jepsy, the affidavit states; she then told the police what he’d said to her that day. Later, a detective recorded a phone conversation between the two where Dane Kallungi explained details of the killing further, according to the affidavit. He allegedly said that at the time of the killing, he was “just trying to literally get the words from coming out of her mouth.” 

“It looked like I did some damage and I freaked out, and it looked like she was suffering,” the affidavit quotes him as saying. “I put her on the floor and it was like there was still some kind of breathing going on, even though she was gone and I just, just regretted that."

Jepsy Kallungi, 28, was first reported missing by her family on April 4, 2019. The affidavit states that on March 20, 2019, Dane Kallungi allegedly attacked her after she came home after a rendezvous with a soldier in Fort Carson; she had a sexual relationship with the other man, the affidavit states. 

“Information gathered during this investigation suggests that Dane Kallungi strangled Jepsy Kallungi during an act of domestic violence, causing her to be severely injured," the affidavit states.

A 911 call was made from Jepsy's phone at 10:30 p.m. the night she vanished but was immediately hung up, according to the document. Dane Kallungi had put the body into the trunk of his vehicle, took his son to school the following morning, then went to work, the affidavit states. 

Jepsy's body was later buried in a remote area in Teller County in a "clandestine grave," police said. 

Authorities executed around three dozen search warrants during the two-year investigation, they said, and conducted multiple interviews that led them to identify Kallungi as the primary suspect in the killing.

Detectives allegedly recovered “numerous items of physical evidence,” during their searches, according to a press release from the department earlier this month.

Jepsy, who was originally from the Philippines, moved to the U.S. in 2017 after meeting Dane Kallungi online, her mother said.

Kellungi faces life in prison if he is convicted of first-degree murder in his wife’s death.