Twin Cities, MNMorton graduate faces trial this week AUTHORITIES: TWIN CITIES MAN MURDERED HIS WIFE AND TRIED TO COVER IT UP

=
By Shawn Hogendorf - Southwest Newspapers of Minnesota | Posted: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 12:05 am |
Jury selection is scheduled to start today in Minnesota in the second-degree murder trial of Hammond native Charles Anthony "Tony" Maddox Jr.
Maddox is accused of killing his wife, fellow Hammond native Ruth Anne Maddox, in their suburban Twin Cities home in November 2008.
The trial is expected to start as early as Thursday. If convicted, the 45-year-old Maddox faces as many at 40 years in prison.
Ruth Anne Maddox's family members from Indiana will be in the courtroom, family friend Colleen Johnston-Hatami said.
"It is very hard. It's very hard for everyone," Johnston-Hatami said.
Ruth Anne Maddox, a 46-year-old reporter for the Shakopee Valley News, was last seen covering a school board meeting the evening of Nov. 10, 2008. Authorities believe she was killed late that night or early the next morning.
Ruth Anne Maddox's work supervisor received a text message from her phone early Nov. 11 saying she had a doctor’s appointment and would be late for work, the criminal complaint against her husband states. When Ruth Anne Maddox didn’t show up, answer her phone or return messages left throughout the day, her co-workers called the police.
When police searched the home, Charles Maddox directed police straight to his wife's body, according to the complaint.
"I might as well save you the trouble," he is quoted as having told investigators. "You will find Ruth Anne's body in the garage."
He told police she came at him with a screwdriver and a knife, and he choked her, the complaint states. An autopsy determined she died of blunt force head and neck injuries.
Only a few years after they connected at a Morton High School reunion for the class of 1981, they were divorcing, and Ruth Anne Maddox told co-workers she feared for her safety, the complaint states.
Search warrants in the case said Charles Maddox made a strange visit to the airport the day before police found his wife's body. According to the warrants, video recorded Maddox was recorded by video Nov. 11 buying luggage, spackle and a spackle knife from a Sears store. Detectives found damage to a wall when they searched the home Nov. 12.
Maddox wore men's clothes during the Sears visit, but 90 minutes later, a person dressed in women's clothing was recorded parking Ruth Anne Maddox's 2003 Subaru Legacy at the airport, the warrants state. The person -- dressed in a coat, black pants and a black hat and large, dark sunglasses -- then boarded an elevator to the airport's lower level instead of going to the ticketing desk, according to the warrants. The warrants state the person looked directly at the elevator's surveillance camera, and police believe the person is Charles Maddox. At one point in the video, blue jeans can be seen beneath the black pants, according to the warrants.
The person, who pulled a rolling bag, walked into a restroom not equipped with cameras, the warrants claim. The person dressed as a woman did not reappear on video, but Charles Maddox did walk back into a video-recorded area a few moments later, the warrants state.
Maddox was recorded boarding a train from the airport, then a bus, the warrants claim.
When police found Ruth Anne Maddox's car, they found a note on the seat saying she was "leaving," according to the warrants.
Times staff writer Dan Hinkel contributed to this story.