Colorado man who murdered girlfriend and cut off her dog's head arrested four years after she vanished
ARAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO: A man has been indicted for the murder of his girlfriend, who went missing from Littleton, Colorado in 2016, the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office stated. As per the indictment, the victim, Charlene Voight, was living with the accused Jeffery Scott Beier when she disappeared in 2016. Her body is still missing.
The 46-year-old suspect was recently arrested in Russia in connection with Voight’s death and will now be brought back to the US. However, the date of his return has not been released yet.
According to the indictment released on June 1, Beier was in a relationship with Voight, then 36-year-old, and the two were living together. The victim was reported missing by her family on July 8, 2016, after she was last seen by witnesses on the night of June 30, 2016. At the time, her family reportedly said that the “always happy” Voight had just moved to Littleton, Colorado from her native Southern California a month before her disappearance. She shifted after completing her graduation in Landscape Architecture, so she could be with her boyfriend, Beier.
Soon after Voight's disappearance, a new twist in the case came when Beier was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in an unrelated case. At the time, he was not named a suspect in the victim’s disappearance. However, later during the investigation, officials found several areas inside the couple's apartment with the victim’s blood. Though the authorities could not find Voight’s body, they did locate several pieces of evidence.
The indictment noted down the evidence that includes several pieces of Voight's clothing. The evidence also included a decapitated dog, believed to be Voight's chihuahua named Toby, who was found wrapped in a sweater in a landfill. The dog’s head has not been found yet. Beier, who ran a dumpster business, was reportedly seen at the landfill around the time when Voight went missing.
As per the indictment, Beier has now been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, sexual assault, two counts of tampering with evidence, third-degree assault, and two counts of attempting to influence a public servant, by misleading authorities about Voight's disappearance. In addition, he also faces charges of aggravated animal cruelty. If proven guilty, Beier is expected to face a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
“Nobody should be able to walk away from murder. I will do everything in my power to bring a perpetrator to justice. I am pleased that in the death of Charlene Voight, there is now a process in place to accomplish that,” District Attorney George Brauchler said in a statement. While Littleton Police Chief Doug Stephens said: “I am proud to be able to tell the family of Miss Voight that the men and women of my department worked for four years to see this day.
"My heart goes out to them, knowing that they are mourning the loss of their sister and daughter. I hope this arrest is a step that will help them move toward healing."