WASHINGTON—The capital was riveted this week by the apparent strangling death of a 91-year-old socialite, but not just because the victim's 47-year-old husband was arrested. It was because her husband—a German claiming to be an Iraqi army general—was known for hosting dozens of the city's power brokers at outlandish soirées in Georgetown.

The couple, Albrecht Gero Muth and Viola Drath, held the dinners in Ms. Drath's Georgetown townhouse, where police found her body Friday...