Left: Tony Charboneau. Right: Brandi Luffy (Washington County Sheriff’s Office).
A man beat his ex-girlfriend during an argument and stomped on her before enlisting the help of his new girlfriend in strapping his ex into a wheelchair and rolling her into the woods, where the couple executed her and buried her in a shallow grave, Missouri cops say.
Tony L. Charboneau, 36, and Brandi Luffy, 40, are charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, abandonment of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Washington County Sheriff Zach Jacobsen identified the victim to St. Louis NBC affiliate KDSK as 43-year-old Amy Hogue, who was reported missing by her family in mid-July.
According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, Charboneau punched and stomped Hogue during an argument. He and Luffy then allegedly bound Hogue’s hands and feet to a wheelchair with ratchet straps. While Hogue was tied down, the two defendants reportedly grabbed shovels, tarps, a pickax and a gun. They put Hogue into the back of Charboneau’s vehicle and drove her to a wooded area near his house, the affidavit said.
Per cops, they rolled Hogue down a hill and dug a shallow grave. Charboneau allegedly took Hogue from the wheelchair and shot her dead.
“Tony spent the rest of the day burying her in the grave, covering her with large rocks and tree limbs,” the affidavit said.
Luffy served as the lookout to make sure no one came to the area, detectives wrote. The suspects then burned the ratchet straps and tarp before ditching Hogue’s purse in a river in Jefferson County, according to the affidavit.
Luffy allegedly admitted to detectives her involvement in the murder and led them to Hogue’s body. She had a bullet hole in her skull, Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John I. Jones, IV said in a statement.
“This case is horrifying in every respect, and my office will not rest until the victim’s killers are brought to justice,” Jones said.
According to Jones, Charboneau had two prior domestic violence cases against Hogue. In May 2023, he allegedly came up from behind her and hit her so hard she lost consciousness because he was upset she took the last cigarette. Then in October 2023, he hit her several times with a two-by-four board, court documents say. Both cases were pending at the time of the murder.
“This crime is heinous, and it was pointless,” Jacobsen told KDSK. “That makes it even worse, the fact that she finally got enough and she was ready to leave and get away from this situation, and she was killed for it.”
More on Law&Crime: Dad left his 15-year-old daughter ratchet strapped to tree next to chicken coop for 3 days because she goes to the bathroom on herself and ‘cannot be trusted’: Cops
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