Wife of Afghan suspect asks ‘I want to know how this could be’

The wife of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who is accused of
killing 16 Afghan civilians, issued a statement Monday saying that she is also
trying to understand how the massacre could have occurred.

“Our family has little information beyond what we read and
see in the media. What has been reported is completely out of character of the
man I know and admire,” said Karilyn Bales, according
to ABC News Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV.

{mosads}“I too want to know what happened,” she said. “I want to
know how this could be.”

Bales, whose husband is being held in military custody at
Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas and is expected to be charged soon with the murder of 16
Afghan civilians, said her family extends its condolences to those in
Afghanistan who had family members killed.

{mosads}“The victims and their families are all in my prayers, as is
my husband who I love very much,” Karilyn Bales said.

On Monday, Robert Bales met with his attorney, John Henry
Browne, for the first time. Browne, who defended serial killer Ted Bundy and
the “barefoot bandit,” told the Associated Press that the two met for more than
three hours Monday.

“What’s going on the ground in Afghanistan, you read
about it. I read about it. But it’s totally different when you hear about it
from somebody who’s been there,” Browne told the AP. “It’s just
really emotional.”

Karilyn Bales, whose husband was first named publicly on
Friday, asked the media in her statement to give her family “some peace and
time as we try to make sense of something that makes no sense at all.”