A Festus-area man and a High Ridge woman each were charged with murder over the past week in connection with the deaths of their live-in partners.
Christopher Buechting, 43, of the Festus area has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of his live-in girlfriend, Angela McDonald, 39.
Donna M. Tooley, 51, of High Ridge has been charged with second-degree murder and two other felonies in connection with the death of her live-in boyfriend, Vincent S. White, 50, of High Ridge.
Buechting is suspected of beating McDonald, who was taken to the hospital on Jan. 23 with head and face injuries and fractures, said Capt. Gary Higginbotham of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
McDonald died two days later at the hospital, the report said.
Higginbotham said authorities believe McDonald died from the “significant injuries” she sustained on Jan. 23, but an exact cause of death can’t be determined until a Medical Examiner’s report is completed.
He said Tuesday that the report could take several more weeks to finish.
Higginbotham said McDonald not only had injuries from Jan. 23 but also it looked like she had previous injuries in “various stages of healing,” which “indicated past abuse.”
On Jan. 22, the Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call to a home in the 1400 block of Wilderness Acres Lane in the Festus area, where Buechting and McDonald lived, but by the time deputies arrived Buechting was gone and McDonald “was not forthcoming with information.”
She didn’t appear to have “recent injuries” that day, Higginbotham said.
The deputy who spoke with McDonald on Jan. 22 said she had what looked like “old” bruises on her chin and under her left eye. She also reportedly said her side hurt and she thought she had broken ribs, the probable-cause statement said.
McDonald told the deputy Buechting had abused her in the past but she didn’t say she had been abused that day, the report said.
In addition, McDonald told the deputy she wanted to leave the home but had nowhere to go. The deputy suggested a women’s shelter and while attempting to find her a place in one, McDonald changed her mind and said she would instead have a friend come get her, according to the report.
The next day, on Jan. 23, the Sheriff’s Office was called back to the home, after Buechting called 911 about McDonald, who was “unresponsive,” Higginbotham said.
During the 911 call, Buechting said McDonald had “intentionally banged her head on the porch the previous night because she was drunk and mad,” the probable-cause statement said.
Buechting also said that while the two were arguing, he forced her out of the house and after that, he heard banging on the door, which he assumed was McDonald banging her head on the door, the report said.
Deputies found “a large amount of blood on the front porch near the front door and blood spattered onto the lower portion of the door frame,” according to the report.
McDonald was taken by helicopter to Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur, but she never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead on Jan. 25.
An autopsy showed that McDonald had numerous bruises, a broken nose, a broken rib and closed-head trauma, which is believed to be the cause of death, the report said.
The Medical Examiner told detectives McDonald’s injuries “were not sustained in the manner described by Buechting.”
On Monday, Buechting was arrested, and the same day the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged him with one count of second-degree murder, a class A felony punishable by 10 to 30 years or life in prison.
He was being held Tuesday at the Jefferson County Jail on a $100,000 cash-only bond.
Buechting previously was charged with misdemeanor third-degree assault stemming from a Sept. 5, 2015, incident, and that case is pending. He previously pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor DWI charges for incidents in October 2005 and June 2011 and to one misdemeanor assault charge for a May 2006 incident, according to court papers.
Tooley
Tooley was charged with murder on Feb. 3, a few weeks after White’s remains were found Jan. 10 in a burn pile at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Chouteau Claim Access Area near the confluence of the Meramec and Bourbeuse rivers in Franklin County, authorities report.
White had been dismembered and only some parts of his body were among the remains found at the access area, said Capt. Gary Higginbotham of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, who also is deputy commander with the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis, which is handling the case.
He said DNA samples were used to identify White.
Tooley, who lived with White in the Jefferson County portion of High Ridge, was arrested Jan. 27 in connection with the alleged homicide.
During an interview, Tooley told detectives that White regularly was abusive to her and that on Jan. 9, while the two were at home, he allegedly threatened her and her two daughters and then physically assaulted her, striking her in the nose, the probable-cause statement said.
She said there was a rebel flag hanging near a gas line, and White lit it on fire, poured whiskey on it and on her and said he hoped the house would explode and kill them both, the statement said.
Tooley said that at one point during the altercation, White went into the bathroom and got a gun and when White returned and came at her, she shot him in the face and chest, the report said.
An autopsy showed that White had been shot four times – in the nose, chin, neck and chest – and that any of those wounds could have been fatal, according to the report.
Tooley reportedly told detectives that after she killed White, she decided she needed to dispose of his body and since he was too heavy to carry, she used a knife to dismember him.
She also allegedly said she put some of his body parts in trash bags and others in a barrel, loaded them in her truck and took some to the Franklin County site and set them on fire. She took the rest of his body parts to another site and tried to throw them in a creek, but they ended up in a ditch instead, the report said.
During the investigation, Tooley helped detectives find the rest of White’s remains, according to the report.
Tooley also told investigators she used bedding to cover White’s body while she was transporting it, and after she disposed of his remains, she threw away the bedding and trash bags in a dumpster near the House Springs Post Office. After she returned home, she disposed of the clothes she had been wearing, the report said.
Tooley reportedly said she gave the gun she shot White with to her daughter, and investigators also recovered that, along with the knife reportedly used to dismember White, the probable-cause statement said.
The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office also has charged Tooley with second-degree murder, a class A felony; as well as with armed criminal action, an unclassified felony; and tampering with physical evidence in a felony investigation, a class E felony. The murder charge is punishable by 10 to 30 years or life in prison, the armed criminal charge carries a minimum sentence of three years, and the tampering charge is punishable by a maximum of four years.
Tooley was being held Monday in the Jefferson County Jail on a $100,000 cash-only bond, but as of Tuesday, the bond had been changed to a surety bond, and she had been released from jail, court records show.