A churchwoman known for her compassionate and upbeat ways was brutally raped, beaten and slain while delivering a food basket to a needy family.
The couple whom Elizabeth Trudi Calabrese intended to help was arrested last Thursday on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping after the 41-year-old mother of two was tied up, clubbed, raped and stabbed, police said.John Sansing, who has a 13-year history of felony convictions in Utah, faces additional charges of aggravated and sexual assault. He is being held without bond. Bond for his wife, Kara Kay Sansing, 28, was set at $500,000.
Their four children - three boys ages 10, 11, and 12 and a 9-year-old girl, some of whom police said were present during the attack and were aware of it - were placed in the care of Sansing's sister.
Sgt. Mike McCullough said the Sansing children told police their mother had helped tie Calabrese and "were aware that she was assaulted."
Calabrese's body had been dragged to the back yard and dumped behind a shed, where it was partially covered with cardboard boxes when it was found Feb. 25, police said.
Inside the Sansings' bedraggled home, where carpet was littered with garbage and dog feces, police said they found a knife under a sofa cushion and a wooden club under a sink.
Police and court records say Sansing is believed to have gone to his sister's home after the attack, where he allegedly told her he was high on crack.
Joanne Hiller, secretary of Calabrese's church, Living Springs Assembly of God in Glendale, said a man who identified himself as John Sansing had called shortly after noon Feb. 24 to ask for food.
She said he explained that he and his wife had just gotten jobs and needed food for their family until they got their first paychecks.
Hiller said Calabrese volunteered to deliver the basket. Police believe she did so about 5 p.m. Feb. 24.
Prior to being arrested, Kara Sansing told reporters that no one had delivered food.
A search for Calabrese began late Feb. 24 when her husband, retired career Air Force officer Rosario Calabrese, reported her missing to the suburban Avondale Police Department.
"We were waiting, hoping for the possibility that it wasn't her," said Ken Thommen of Goodyear, Elizabeth Calabrese's brother. "She was a loving, decent woman, dedicated to her children. The reality of her death hasn't set in. But it will soon."
Rosario Calabrese, who said they met 11 years ago while he was on duty in Germany and he asked her to dance, said he cannot hate the people charged with brutalizing and killing his wife.
"I believe they are on drugs and don't know what they are doing," he said. "I know they have to pay the price before God, but I don't know what to feel."
His wife was smiling when she set out on the delivery, he added.
"She was always smiling and trying to do God's work, and that is how I think she would want us to remember her," he said.
Hiller described Elizabeth Calabrese as a mother and devoted church worker.
"She was a breath of fresh air when she walked into a room," Hiller said. "She was there with an encouraging word, always very upbeat. She enjoyed helping people, making them feel wanted and loved."
The Sansings, formerly of suburban Peoria, declined requests for an interview.
Maricopa County Superior Court records show each had been sentenced in late December to one year of probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana.
John Sansing also has an extensive criminal record in Salt Lake City but spent only 45 days in prison, said Jack Ford, spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections.
Records show Sansing pleaded guilty to second-degree felony burglary in 1985. In 1987 he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor spousal abuse and to third-degree felony burglary. In 1993 he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.