After searching for more than 40 days, cops in Michigan believe they recovered the body of a missing woman allegedly killed by her husband.
Kelly McWhirter, 60, was last heard from Oct. 14 at her home in Flushing, a suburb of Flint. Her husband, 57-year-old Steven Higgins, was initially also considered missing but he became a suspect after Genesee County Sheriff’s deputies found blood and evidence of an attempted cleanup at their home. He was spotted on Oct. 18 and shot himself to death as deputies closed in. Sheriff Chris Swanson said deputies found a bloodied body bag in the bed of Higgins’ truck, along with a shovel. There was no sign of McWhirter.
Around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, deputies received a 911 call after a hunter training his bird dog uncovered a “badly decomposed” body in a wooded area near Ryan and Sharon roads in St. Charles, about 30 miles northwest of the victim’s home, Swanson said. The body had “significant trauma,” he said. Though McWhirter’s body will have to be positively identified via dental records, the clothing found on the body matches what she was wearing at the time of her disappearance.
The body of Kelly McWhirter, who had been missing for 45 days, was believed to have been found on Nov. 29 about 30 miles from her Michigan home. Her husband, Steven Higgins, allegedly killed her. (Genesee County Sheriff’s Office)
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“I wish I could do more but I’m encouraged that we are on the right track to give Kelly the closure that she deserves,” Swanson said in a video posted to Facebook.
The search spanned over 300 miles and two states. Deputies learned that the day his wife went missing, Higgins drove McWhirter’s car about 200 miles to a friend’s home in Norwalk, Ohio. Detectives initially thought that Higgins may have dumped her body on the way down or back from Ohio. Then they received word that Higgins did yard work a couple days after McWhirter went missing about 95 miles north of their home.
McWhirter was a longtime secretary for the Sheriff’s Office. She retired but returned to work for the board of commissioners office. Swanson previously described McWhirter as a “beautiful soul.”
“We are as a family at the sheriff’s office very close to Kelly,” he said. “There’s people that have become not only co-workers but very dear friends, and it is earth-shattering.”
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