Cops: Man killed ex-wife in Fla.; buried body in Mo.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Police say a Florida man has admitted to killing his ex-wife and dumping her body in Missouri, reports CBS affiliate WTEV.
Jeffrey Mackey, 58, was arrested at a Best Western hotel in St. Augustine, Fla., on Monday, according to the station. He is charged with killing 48-year-old Kimberly Dawn Mackey. Jacksonville police officers had been searching for the suspect and used cellphone pings to track his location.
Kimberly Mackey was reported missing by an unidentified complainant on May 26. Her body was recovered on Monday in rural Clay County, Mo., buried in a gully and covered with rocks, WTEV reports. Police said an argument over relationships between the couple triggered the murder.
The Kansas City Star reports the divorced couple had recently resumed living together in a trailer park in Jacksonville, where the killing allegedly occurred. Jeffrey Mackey is a former resident of Excelsior Springs, Mo.
Jacksonville police are waiting on reports from medical examiners in Missouri to confirm cause of death.
Authorities believe Jeffrey Mackey shot his ex-wife in Jacksonville, loaded her body into his SUV and drove it roughly 1,200 miles to Missouri, according to WTEV. Police said a neighbor reported seeing Jeffrey Mackey load what looked like a body wrapped in a blanket into his vehicle in Jacksonville.
"It's a mystery. I don't know why things happen in a family like this," neighbor William Burger told the station. "There were no indications the couple had problems."
Police tracked Jeffrey Mackey's movements from Jacksonville to Missouri, reports WTEV. They said he left Missouri abruptly last Friday after taking out large sums of money from the bank, leaving his clothes and dogs behind.
Investigators said they spoke with the suspect last week before he left Missouri to return to Florida.
"At the time, the suspect denied wrongdoing. He said the last day he saw her was Monday morning and she left on a motorcycle with an unknown male," said Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Assistant Chief Chris Butler.