Did the man suspected of murdering a South African-born woman in Virginia come to the United States as a refugee in the spring of 2025? No, that's not true: The suspect is an American citizen, according to the victim's brother. He told Lead Stories that when married, the couple settled in the U.S. before Donald Trump's second presidency.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on June 3, 2025. In it, a narrator said on camera:
Trigger warning. Remember those people not too long ago that came from South Africa because they made up a genocide and they were, like, seeking asylum and some of them settled in? Yeah, well, one of them already killed his wife!
After that, what looked like a news report referencing a particular story appeared in the background. It mentioned the victim's name: Kim White Towne.
This is what the video looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot by Lead Stories)
The post was published the day after the second group of white South Africans came to the U.S. under the Trump administration's refugee program (archived here).
In the video, the speaker implied that the victim's husband was one of the persons from the first group that arrived on May 12, 2025 (archived here).
However, Alexander Towne, who is currently a suspect in the murder of his wife, is a U.S. citizen, not a recent refugee from South Africa, and Kim White Towne moved to the U.S. before Trump's second presidency.
Kim's brother Jason White told Lead Stories via Facebook Messenger on June 5, 2025:
Kim moved to America at the beginning of August 2023.
He continued:
And Alexander Towne is an American citizen.
The government-funded South African news agency (archived here) published an official confirmation that it was the victim, Kim White Towne, who was "originally from Cape Town". The agency referred to her spouse as "her American husband," too.
Earlier, South African media outlet IOL (archived here) reported that Kim White met Alexander Towne in Dubai "where she worked as a teacher and he served in the military". Kim's brother told the website that they got married in December 2021.
On May 24, 2025, the Fairfax County Police Department reported (archived here) a "domestic-related homicide" in Virginia. The initial alert on X said that the victim "was declared deceased on scene" and "the adult male suspect" was taken into custody.
According to Captain Jesse Katzman, the couple's child was there, too. The toddler was later placed with a relative.
Court materials confirm that the suspect is Alexander Towne. He was arrested on May 25, 2025, and then charged with second-degree murder.
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Other Lead Stories fact checks of the claims mentioning South Africa can be found here.
Stories about current events in the United States are here.
