Ex-wife: D.C. sniper planned to kill her

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The ex-wife of "D.C. sniper" John Allen Muhammad, who is facing execution in Virginia next week, says his killing spree was a cover for a plan to kill her.

Mildrid Muhammad talked to The Washington Times in the office of After The Trauma, a group she runs for victims of domestic violence in Maryland. She said the lives of her husband's victims might have been saved if police had listened to her.

"It's unfortunate that innocent lives were lost because John wanted to cover up my murder," she said.

Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, were suspected of killing at least 10 people in a three-week spree in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs around Washington. He was sentenced to death in Virginia for the murder of Dean Harold Meyers, who was gunned down at a gas station. Malvo was sentenced to life without parole.

Mildrid Muhammad said her husband believed he could kill her and get their three children back with the shooting being blamed on the D.C. sniper.

Neither Mildrid Muhammad nor the children have seen her husband since his arrest. She said the children have written him, asking for a visit before his execution.