Bizarre crime scene develops, arrest made after fatal crash

BOISE– A severed female head flew from a pickup truck early Thursday during an accident that killed a woman and her child on a busy Boise road.

The head, which landed on the roadway after the crash, is unrelated to the accident, but is likely connected to a separate slaying in nearby Nampa, said Lynn Hightower, a Boise police spokeswoman.

“It was one of the more horrific and complex crime scenes on memory,” Hightower said. “A woman and her child killed in a crash, and a severed head from an earlier homicide: It’s nothing short of bizarre and tragic.”

Hightower said the pickup driver, Alofa Time, was transporting the severed head in his vehicle when the accident occurred.

Boise Police arrested Time, 51, of Nampa, at the accident scene. Time, who did not sustain any significant injuries in the crash, was arrested for investigation of two counts of second-degree murder.

At the accident scene, police said Time told officers that he was involved in the death of his wife in Nampa.

After searching Time’s house, Nampa Police found the decapitated body of 47-year-old Theresa N. Time, officials said.

The body was found in a car inside the garage and likely had been dead for several hours, said Lt. LeRoy Forsman, of the Nampa Police Department.

Theresa Time’s body was later transferred to Canyon County Coroner Vicki DeGeus-Morris. She said an autopsy would be performed next week.

“I think in my 22 years, this is the most bizarre case I’ve ever seen,” she said.

In neighboring Ada County, the coroner’s office released the names of the victims of the car accident. Samantha Nina Murphy, 36, and her 4-year-old daughter Jae Lynne Grimes, both of Boise, died in the crash that occurred shortly after 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

Investigators believe Time swerved into oncoming traffic, colliding with Murphy’s Nissan Sentra, Hightower said.

A city police officer was driving on Franklin Road – a major arterial through downtown Boise – when he witnessed Time driving erratically several car-lengths ahead.

Murphy’s other daughter in the car was injured. On Thursday afternoon, she was in stable condition in the pediatrics unit at Saint Alphonsus Hospital in Boise.

Investigators found broken beer bottles at the crash scene. A toxicology report will determine if alcohol played a role in the accident.