The boyfriend of a woman who was reported missing and later found savagely murdered in her home has been charged in connection to her death.
On Thursday, police in Auburndale, Florida, started a missing person investigation after Stacy Powell, 48, hadn’t logged into her work computer for two days, according to Fox 13.
Police went to her home and met with a handyman, who said the residents were not home, according to WFLA.
At the same time, her boyfriend, Andrew Ridgeway, 46, called the handyman to ask what officers were doing as he had surveillance cameras that could see the activity, police said.
Authorities said Ridgeway lied to police about her whereabouts, and claimed he was in North Carolina while his girlfriend was in the Caribbean, according to WFLA.
He told police that on February 5 she had flown to Jamaica to be with her ill father, and he didn’t know when she would return, police said. However, investigators said Powell’s dad lived in North Carolina.
That led police to search her home, where they found her remains.
“It was a brutal attack, so much so that we had to wait until this afternoon to get an identification on her because we recovered her body [Thursday] evening,” Auburndale police chief Terry Storie said, according to WFLA.
Police have not detailed how she was killed, or a motive for the alleged attack. They continue to investigate.
Ridgeway was arrested in Augusta, Georgia, when police spotted him driving her pick-up truck. He was charged with homicide and making a false report to law enforcement.
Authorities said the couple had been together for at least two years, and there were no previous reports of domestic violence.
