Northwestern Professor Murders Wife, Then Self

A Northwestern University professor's impending divorce was apparently the cause of a tragic murder-suicide last week.

Professor Joseph Mabwa, 45, reportedly stabbed his wife 16 times, then cut his throat and drowned himself in Lake Michigan.

The body of Eileen Mabwa, 40, was found in the couple's Evanston, Ill. home at about 6 p.m. on October 30 by a neighbor who did not wish to be identified. The neighbor said she was responding to a call from Mabwa, who told her he had killed his wife and left her in the basement.

The caller then asked the neighbor to check on his children and make sure they were all right.

Upon her arrival at the house, the neighbor discovered the body wrapped in a sheet. Suicide notes, apparently written by Mabwa after the murder, were lying scattered near the corpse, she said.

Evanston police had a warrant out for Mabwa's arrest for three days until a jogger found his body floating on Lake Michigan near the Northwestern University grounds.

The motive for both the killing and the suicide is unknown, but acquaintances of the Mabwas said the couple's marital problems might have been involved. Each of the Mabwas had separately filed for divorce, and the hearing was scheduled for the day following the murder, according to the Daily Northwestern.

Mabwa taught Swahili at Northwestern and was a four-year member of the African and Asian Languages Department there. His colleagues said he was liked and respected by faculty and students alike.

"I think all of us were shocked and surprised. You never expect anything like this," said Natalie Johnson, Mabwa's former student and a family friend.

The Mabwas had been married for 20 years. They had four children, the eldest of whom is a student at Northwestern.