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A 48-year-old Victoria woman is in a Thai jail facing a murder charge after the shooting death of her American common-law husband, who has drawn comparisons to cult leaders Charles Manson and Jim Jones.

Margaret Crane has been in touch with officials from the Canadian Consulate in Chiang Mai, 600 kilometres north of Bangkok, a Foreign Affairs spokeswoman said in Ottawa.

Her husband's name was reported both as Daniel George Dubie and George Patrick Dubie, and his age as 56. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok said there is confusion over Dubie's given names.

"We don't know his full name," the spokesman said. According to one source, he went by about 10 aliases and was once a resident of B.C.

Crane is described in media reports as a housewife.

She was arrested at a police checkpoint after Dubie was shot three times in the chest with a .38 calibre revolver Sunday while the two were at a Chiang Mai restaurant. They had a heated argument before the shooting, police said.

Crane fled in a car while Dubie was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Bangkok Post reports that Crane told police she and her five children suffered abuse at the hands of Dubie and that the situation had worsened since he began an affair with a Thai woman.

Dubie was a freelance journalist said to have worked for CNN and the United Nations in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami.

The Foreign Affairs Department would not give details on the incident, citing the accused's rights to privacy.

If convicted, Crane may be sentenced to death, which in Thailand is carried out by firing squad.

Dubie had attracted controversy and police attention in the past. He was once wanted in connection with a theft ring in Hawaii, where he lived in a $1.7-million waterfront mansion.

An associate of Dubie named Jon Onuma, also known as Jade Yoshino, previously lived at the home and was a person of interest in the mysterious disappearance of a North Carolina woman named Kristen Modafferi, who vanished in 1997 from San Francisco.

The case was featured on an episode of the TV program America's Most Wanted and is detailed on a website: www.findkristen.com.

"Daniel Dubie is a modern day Charles Manson and Jim Jones," the website says. "He literally goes around the world telling people he is Jesus and actually convinces them to give him millions of dollars."

Dennis Mahon, who runs the website to generate tips about the case and is a friend of the family of the missing woman, said Dubie was born in Santa Barbara, Calif., and is a former husband of millionaire Geri Cvitanovich, a co-founder of the Herbalife company, which sells health and weight-loss products.

For many years, Dubie lived at his wife's waterfront home outside Honolulu near Diamond Head. After Dubie and Cvitanovich divorced, he was rumoured to have been married to a series of women.

"He supposedly has 17 children," Mahon said. "He lived in B.C. for a while. I've known he was in Thailand for a couple of years. He ran a holistic spa in Chiang Mai."