A Missouri man and his girlfriend have been charged with killing his ex-girlfriend and burying her body in a shallow grave in Washington County.
Police say Tony Charboneau, 36, beat and stomped 43-year-old Amy Hogue on June 20 then strapped her into a wheelchair and loaded it onto the back of his car while Brandi Luffy, 40, collected shovels, tarps, a pickaxe, and a gun and loaded them into her boyfriend’s car, KSDK reported.
The pair drove to a nearby woods and dug a shallow grave before Charboneau shot Hogue in the head. While Charboneau buried his former girlfriend, Luffy served as a lookout.
After disposing of Hogue’s body, the couple burned the straps and tarp used to hold the body and threw the remnants, along with Houge’s purse, into a Jefferson County river.
Hogue’s family in Louisiana reported her missing in mid-July, according to KMZU.
According to charging documents, Luffy admitted her role in the murder and took detectives to Hogue’s grave.
“This case is horrifying in every respect, and my office will not rest until the victim’s killers are brought to justice,” Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John I. Jones IV said in a statement.
Charboneau has been charged with first-degree murder and assault, and Luffy is charged with second degree murder, KSDK said. They’ve both been charged with kidnapping, abandonment of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
Washington County Sheriff Zach Jacobsen said that Hogue’s murder left behind three children, but those children are not the killer’s.
The accused killers are being held on $1 million bond each, KMZU reported.
