Broyhill's family 'reeling' after stabbing death, murder charge

"Our family is still reeling from the shock of what happened last Monday," Kay Broyhill said in a statement Monday. "Our hearts are broken for the Kirk/Hahn families, and we pray God will bring His peace and comfort to them in their grieving."

Jonathan Wayne Broyhill is accused of murder in the April 24 death of Jamie Kirk Hahn, 29, whom police say was stabbed along with her husband, Nation Hahn, in their home two days earlier.

Nation Hahn, 27, was treated and released from the hospital last week.

Broyhill, 31, a longtime friend of the couple, had been recovering at WakeMed from injuries that police say were self-inflicted, but he was not listed in the hospital's directory Monday morning.

Nor had he been booked into the Wake County jail, a process that usually occurs after a suspect is released from a hospital. It's unclear whether he has invoked his federal right to privacy and is listed under an alias.

Kay Broyhill, meanwhile, said the family is heartbroken and shocked and "we will continue to love him and support him in any way we can."

Although he has not been formally charged, Broyhill has already been appointed a public defender, according to Wake County's chief public defender, Chuck Caldwell. It's a rare move before an arrest, Caldwell said, but it does happen in high-profile and potentially complicated cases.

Raleigh police haven't offered a motive for the attacks, but former U.S. Rep. Brad Miller has said that there are questionable campaign reports Broyhill made while working for his campaign through the fundraising firm of Jamie Hahn, who was a political strategist Miller, a Democrat, had hired in 2010.

Broyhill worked for her and managed the campaign's finances.

After combing through hundreds of pages of records, WRAL News identified nearly $20,000 in questionable expenditures and, overall, nearly $60,000 missing from the account.

Miller said last week that Jamie Hahn had recently found out about the issues and had planned to confront Broyhill about them. Jamie Hahn's stepfather said last week that when she did, Broyhill "just lost it."

According to people close to the case, Broyhill had been at the Hahns' home early Monday evening, when they were preparing for dinner, and that Nation Hahn heard screaming and found Broyhill stabbing his wife. She was able to escape and ran outside before collapsing in a neighbor's yard.

Family, friends and colleagues gathered Saturday in Raleigh for a memorial service, during which Nation Hahn remembered his wife as having a kind heart, a love of politics and a deep belief in the power of government to make a difference.

"She was a good and decent person who saw wrongs and wanted to right them," he said.