by Beth Duckett - Aug. 16, 2010 03:32 PM
The Arizona Republic
The wife of a Scottsdale man missing since late November has confessed to killing her husband and dumping his body in the desert east of Phoenix, where it has yet to be found, officials said Monday.
Scottsdale police arrested Shari Tobyne, 53, on Saturday after police said she admitted to accidentally shooting her husband, 57-year-old Dwight Tobyne, last year.
She was booked on single counts of first-degree murder and abandoning a human body, said Scottsdale police spokesman Officer David Pubins at a news conference Monday.
The Tobynes have three adult children who reported their father missing on July 21, Pubins said. Shari Tobyne told them their father went to Mexico last November as the couple was about to go through a separation after 35 years of marriage.
"During that time, he missed Christmas with the family and the birth of a grandchild, so this began our investigation," Pubins said.
According to police, Shari Tobyne bought a handgun last fall and practiced her shooting at a local gun club on Nov. 22.
Tobyne told investigators she bought a gun with the intention of killing herself. After offering multiple versions of how the shooting took place, Tobyne ultimately told police during an Aug. 14 interview that she accidentally shot her husband during an attempted suicide.
On the night of the alleged shooting, which police said occurred between Nov. 24 and 28, Tobyne said she walked into the master bedroom of the condominium the couple shared in the 8000 block of East Mountain View Road. She had a gun in her hand and was going to shoot herself when Dwight Tobyne, who was lying on the bed, attempted to grab the gun and accidentally triggered it, she told police.
The bullet hit Dwight Tobyne in the head, killing him instantly, Tobyne said. She told police she did not report the incident out of fear that nobody would believe her.
Instead, Tobyne said, she wrapped her husband's body in bedding and dragged him to the garage, where she again wrapped him in tarp. Later, Tobyne said she placed her husband's body in the backseat of her car and drove to an unknown location east of Phoenix, where she dumped the body.
She also admitted replacing the carpet in the master bedroom afterward, police said.
During the recent investigation, Tobyne confessed to killing her husband but maintained it was an accident. She agreed to help find the body, police said, and after the interview, she directed officials to an area off the Bush Highway in the Tonto National Forest. Investigators could not find the exact location.
Dwight Tobyne's remains were still missing as of Monday afternoon.
"However, detectives are attempting to gather information to help narrow down the search location," Pubins said.
Police made the arrest after conducting surveillance on Tobyne, during which they observed her disposing of materials at a dumpster in Chandler that included a dismantled handgun and items of clothing, and spray cleaning the trunk of her vehicle at another location in Mesa.
Detectives also found Dwight Tobyne's Ford pickup abandoned in an apartment complex parking lot near 30th Street and Shea Boulevard. Shari Tobyne later admitted to driving it there, according to police.
Cell phone records showed that the same cell-tower areas were used by phones belonging to Shari and Dwight between Nov. 24 and Dec. 25, indicating that the phones were together, police said.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/08/16/20100816scottsdale-wife-confesses-killing-husband.html#ixzz0ws58he9V
No comments:
Post a Comment