CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. (WLFI/AP) — A Crawfordsville man has been charged with killing his wife whose severed head was found buried in his cellar, authorities said.
According to court documents, Michael Dale Parks, 44, of Crawfordsville was formally charged with murder Monday in Montgomery Circuit Court. He's being held without bond.
The headless body of Hope Parks was found early Thursday on a bridge over Sugar Creek while Parks around the same time was reporting her missing at the Crawfordsville Police Department.
Parks told police he hadn’t seen his wife since Aug. 18, when she left the house after an argument. He said she drove off in a vehicle driven by an unknown person.
Parks allowed police to search the couple’s home, where officers noticed dried blood in areas including the garage, driveway and rear deck, Lt. David Long said in an affidavit. Police also found a trail of dried blood in the grass. The woman’s head was found buried in the cellar, the affidavit said.
also recovered from within the home was .22 caliber rifle and ammunition. A spent .22 caliber cartridge casing was recovered from the yard, adjacent to the trail of blood droppings. A man's shoe with a tread similar to the footprint in the blood droppings in the garage was located.
An autopsy determined Hope Parks died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Police obtained a second search warrant for Park's residence and found a blue tarp stained with blood and appeared to have been used to transport a human body. Additional hair and plastic bags containing blood-covered rags were recovered from deeper within the hole in the cellar floor that was the site where the severed head was found buried.
An attorney for Parks was not listed in court records.
