The remains of a missing Sunset Hills woman have been recovered and her husband has been charged with her murder, the St. Louis County Police Department has confirmed to NewsChannel 5.
Linda McLaughlin was first reported missing from her Sunset Hills home on June 2, 2015 while she was in the midst of divorce proceedings from her husband, John McLaughlin. She was last seen around 7 p.m. the day before.
John's brother was also taken into custody, but he was not charged.
McLaughlin was charged with second-degree murder Wednesday afternoon, but the charge could be upgraded to first-degree murder. Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCollough said technology pinpointed him at the location Linda's remains were found in a shallow grave in a secluded, remote area.
Charging documents state that John drove his truck to the family farm in Gerald, Mo. arriving around 1 a.m. June 2, 2015. Linda's bracelet and blood/DNA were found on the farm. John's truck left the farm around 7:30 a.m. and traveled to a remote area in southwestern Missouri which is where Linda's body was found on April, 26, 2016.
McLaughlin is being held on a $2 million, cash-only bond.
The St. Louis County Medical Examiner's Office’s forensic administrator, Suzanne McCune, says the remains arrived at her office on Tuesday and an autopsy is underway. Determining a cause of death will be difficult because the body is badly decomposed, she said.
Linda and John McLaughlin were due in court for a settlement hearing just two days after she was reported missing.
Police had been involved in domestic disputes between the McLaughlins for years. Between February 2003 and June 2015, police reports show a total of 16 calls from or about the couple.
On April 3, 2015, Linda called police claiming her husband threatened her. At that time, she laid out accusations and filed for an order of protection from John. In the two-page handwritten petition, Linda accused her husband of repeated threatening behavior, claiming "I am very afraid of him and not sure what he is capable of doing to me."
In the petition, she also described a dispute in which her husband "came home and was screaming and cussing at me and scaring me." She said the incident left her "shaking" and "scared."
John McLaughlin's attorney, Scott Rosenblum, says that order of protection was never served.
