Following his confession to investigators that he killed and dismembered his girlfriend, Craig Francis Steward told the officers he was "relieved."
"He was relaxed and said it felt like the weight of the world was off his shoulders," said Livingston County Maj. Matthew Burgess, one of the investigators who conducted the interview and arrested Steward.
"It felt the same way to us."
At a press conference in Livingston County on Tuesday, investigators said Steward, 58, of 165 Curlew Street in Rochester was charged with second-degree murder, a felony, in connection with the death of Deanna Lynn Dudek, 37, in November, 2009.
It has been nearly a year since Dudek's remains were found in a shallow creek near the intersection of Chautauqua Hollow and Delude Hill roads about 60 miles from Rochester in Nunda, Livingston County. Her body was intentionally covered with branches and small trees and found by a mother and son who had been fishing on May 6.
Livingston County Sheriff John York said Dudek was a prostitute who met Steward through a friend, and Dudek had not lived with Steward for long before she was killed.
Dudek had been struggling with drug addiction and living with Steward when she was last seen on Nov. 14, 2009, police and family members said. She was reported missing the following week.
Investigators believe Dudek was killed the day she was last seen, and her body dumped in the creek two days later.
Steward was familiar with the area where Dudek's body was found because his family owned land and a camp nearby, York said.
Steward — among others — had been a suspect in the death since the discovery, York said.
He was questioned for several hours Monday and, following a polygraph test, confessed to killing and dismembering Dudek, Burgess said. He was then arrested and charged with murder.
He is being held without bail in the Livingston County Jail pending a hearing in Nunda Town Court on Thursday.
Investigators did not elaborate on a motive, but said Dudek's body was partially dismembered to conceal evidence.
Deputies said many "unusual techniques" were part of the 11-month-long investigation, including use of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Va., and the Mercyhurst College anthropology department.
York said he and investigators visited Quantico to seek assistance in the case, but did not say what help the agency provided.
Deanna's father, Jim Dudek of Alexander, Genesee County, said he last saw his daughter shortly before she disappeared. At the time, she was struggling with an addiction to drugs and only occasionally would visit family.
Jim Dudek has adopted his daughter's oldest child, Olivia, and another member of the family cares for Deanna's son, Brian, Jim Dudek said.
"Olivia took it real hard when her mother died," Jim Dudek said.
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