FAUCETT, Mo. (AP) - One suspect has been arrested and police are searching for a second person in connection with the death of a woman whose remains were found inside a duffel bag in northwestern Missouri.
The Buchanan County Sheriff’s office said Sunday that 22-year-old Taylor Stoughton has been charged with second-degree murder in the February 2020 death of 21-year-old Ariel Starcher. The sheriff’s department is searching for Marcus Brooks in connection with Starcher’s death.
A Missouri Transportation Department worker found the bag with Starcher’s body inside it on Feb. 18, 2020 alongside the road, which is about 45 miles (72.42 kilometers) north of Kansas City. The worker thought it looked suspicious and reported it.
Court documents say Stoughton told authorities that she and Brooks obstructed Starcher’s airflow to the point of unconsciousness on Feb. 5, 2020 at a Kansas City hotel. Then they put her body in the duffel bag and dumped it along the road in Buchanan County, according to the Kansas City Star.
Starcher died of suffocation.
Neither Stoughton nor Brooks had an attorney listed in court records who could comment for them on Sunday.
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