The end came
on the afternoon of Mother's Day.
Nancy and Robert Seaman were celebrating
at home in Farmington Hills with
their older son when they began
to argue.
The yelling grew
so intense, the son left for his
Downriver home. Within 10 minutes,
Nancy Seaman was at the Commerce
Township Home Depot purchasing
an ax, said Farmington Hills police,
who reconstructed the night and
following days through evidence
and interviews.
Police say Seaman
then returned to the rambling
Tudor in the Ramblewood subdivision.
She walked into the kitchen and
slammed the ax into her husband's
head.
Then she dragged
her husband's body a short distance
into the attached garage and began
stabbing him with a knife and
smashing him with a sledgehammer,
police said.
The next day,
Seaman taught her fourth-grade
class, and then stopped at Home
Depot a second time for cleaning
materials to wipe up the mess,
police said.
On Friday afternoon,
Seaman, 52, stood before 47th
District Judge James Brady. Clad
in a green sweatshirt, she pleaded
not guilty to a charge of first-degree
murder. She faces life in prison
if convicted.
Robert Seaman,
50, was left with 20 stab wounds,
a crushed skull, a fractured clavicle
and a slashed throat.
Nancy Seaman's
attorney said Friday that she
had endured a lifetime of physical
abuse from her husband, including
hitting, kicking and knifing.
Administrators
at Longacre Elementary School
told detectives that the friendly
and award-winning teacher appeared
disheveled and out of sorts on
Monday, according to Police Chief
William Dwyer.
After the final
bell rang Monday afternoon, police
said, Nancy Seaman returned to
the Home Depot. Videotapes from
the store and receipts found in
her purse revealed bleach, a tarp,
duct tape and products used to
scrub her home were purchased
with cash.
On Tuesday night,
a relative filed a missing person's
report for Robert Seaman. By Wednesday,
an out-of-town relative called
police suggesting foul play. Police
went to the Seaman home.
There they found
Robert Seaman's body in the back
of the couple's black Ford Explorer.
His body was wrapped in the tarp,
tightly coiled with duct tape.
A knife was discovered inside
the tarp.
"In the
classroom she displayed a friendliness.
She had a close relationship with
her students, and she was well-liked,"
Dwyer said.
"But then
there was another side,"
he said. "She'd be outraged,
violent. She threw things."
Employees at
her husband's business, Put One
in the Upper Deck, an indoor batting
cage in Northville, told police
she had a temper.
Inside the Seamans'
gated neighborhood, details of
the couple's relationship have
residents buzzing.
"This is
one of the most exclusive subdivisions
in Farmington Hills," said
Tom Bryant, a Ramblewood resident.
"Things like this don't happen
here. People are wondering if
it was a lover who killed him."
At the district
court Friday, family members wept,
rubbed their eyes and smiled at
one another. They declined to
comment about the couple or the
details of the crime.
In court, Nancy
Seaman's attorney, Don Ferris,
said she had suffered a broken
hand and wrist because of abuse
by her husband. At least once,
her husband slashed her hand with
a knife. Robert Seaman, Ferris
said, made a habit of hitting
and kicking his wife.
"Her sons
will testify that she made repeated
trips to the emergency room but
never reported her husband,"
Ferris said.
"Her son
will say that when he goes to
buy her blouses, he buys long
sleeves because she always has
bruises."
Friends and acquaintances
told police detectives that Robert
Seaman was cheating on his wife.
But Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor
Tom McAndrew said there is no
evidence that Seaman mistreated
his wife.
"There was
no evidence of physical abuse
to her," McAndrew said. "Her
bruises could have been self-imposed.
And she was trying to clean up
and roll his body in a tarp. She
lied to her son about where her
husband was."
The Seamans were
preparing to divorce, Dwyer said.
Nancy was living on the upper
floor of their home, Robert on
the first floor.
Both are native
Michiganders. Robert attended
a private college in the West
and earned an engineering degree.
It is unclear where Nancy attended
school before she began teaching.
They married
in 1973 and had two sons. The
older is 26, married, works as
an engineer and lives Downriver.
The younger is 22 and set to graduate
from Purdue University on Sunday.
Nancy Seaman
has been in custody since Wednesday
night. Dwyer said she has spoken
very little and spends time just
staring.
Before a courtroom
full of family, Seaman never once
turned back to meet their eyes.
She didn't stop to say good-bye
to her child.
Her preliminary
exam will begin at 9 a.m. May
24.
