AUBURN, Wash. — Deputies with the King County Sheriff’s Office arrested a woman Tuesday in connection with the 2016 slaying of her husband.
"This is the second cold case that Detectives have been able to solve and the second arrest in the past six weeks," Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht said in a news release.
Deputies said around 9:45 p.m. on April 2, 2016, Julie Ianniciello, then 46 years old, shot and killed her 47-year-old husband, Tom Ianniciello, while he was sleeping in a home in the 4000 block of South 340th Street.
According to deputies, the couple’s two children were waiting in a running vehicle in the driveway while the shooting happened.
"Both children later told Police that their Mom was in the house alone with their Dad for 5-10 minutes before their Mom came out and they all left to pick up their older sister (victim's daughter from a previous relationship) from work," the King County Sheriff's Office said.
Deputies said Julie and her children returned to the house around 10:50 p.m.
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Officials said Julie then called police and claimed their house had been burglarized, but officials found that TVs, electronics, cash and other valuable items had not been touched.
In their investigation, detectives said they learned Julie had been having an affair at the time of her husband’s death.
"Detectives found dozens of emails between the suspect and her new boyfriend in the weeks leading up to the murder discussing the suspect's hatred of her husband and her plan to leave him the weekend that he was murdered," the Sheriff's Office said.
Detectives further explained that a spent casing found next to Tom Ianniciello was forensically matched to multiple unfired bullets in the house.
The spent casing suggested that "the firearm used to kill the victim came from the house, not brought in by an unknown suspect," deputies said.
"This is just another example of the outstanding work our Detectives continue to do day in and day out for victims and their families in their quest for justice,"Johanknecht said.
Julie Ianniciello was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of on first-degree murder charges.
KIRO 7 will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.