Missouri man accused of killing missing woman and leaving body in woods
07/26/2023 1:55 pm PDT
CLAY COUNTY, Mo. (TCD) -- Prosecutors are charging a 36-year-old man for allegedly killing a missing woman from Colorado and abandoning her body in a wooded area.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control announced Wednesday, July 26, that Benjamin Tyler Smith was being charged with first-degree murder and abandonment of a corpse in connection with the disappearance and death of 37-year-old Sarah Tafoya.
On May 4, Tafoya’s estranged husband reported her missing after speaking to her three days prior when she said she was in Clay County, Missouri, with Simmons and "needed help."
According to the statement, on May 23, a witness contacted detectives and said Simmons told them he killed Tafoya in Kansas City and "disposed of her body in a wooded area." Detectives spoke with Simmons two days later and he confessed to killing her. He also informed them where he left Tafoya’s body.
Investigators later located Tafoya’s remains.
Simmons was in custody on unrelated charges when the Clay County Prosecutor’s Office announced the indictment. There is a warrant for his arrest in Clay County, where his bond was set at $5 million cash.
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