A Missouri man who reported his girlfriend missing last week was charged with murder the next day.
According to court documents, Aaron Malone, aged 23, contacted the Barry County Sheriff’s Office on November 25 to inform them about a potential abduction involving 24-year-old Aspen Lewis, as reported by KTVI.
Investigators responding to the home found a large blood stain in the roadway behind Malone’s truck and pieces of jewelry. Then they obtained surveillance footage that showed Malone arriving at Lewis’s home just before midnight on November 24. Shortly afterward, screaming was heard on the video.
Malone left the home at about 1:30 a.m. and returned just before 4 a.m. Before he arrived, he called 911 and reported Lewis missing.
Deputies met with Malone later that day and presented him with the evidence they’d uncovered so far. Malone then led them to Lewis’s body, covered with leaves and sticks off a rural road in Barry County. She had extensive head trauma.
Malone reportedly admitted to killing Lewis during an altercation and disposing of her body, the sheriff’s office said.
He was arraigned Tuesday on a murder charge and pleaded not guilty, KTVI said. He was ordered held without bond.
Lewis was the mother of a young son, according to an obituary. No information was provided about the boy’s whereabouts at the time of the murder or where he is now.
