TULSA, Okla. — A man is accused in the death of his wife, whom he married three weeks ago, after her body was found in an SUV under a pile of clothes after going missing last week, Oklahoma authorities said.
According to a news release from the Tulsa Police Department, Christopher Edward Morland Jr., 49, was arrested on a first-degree murder charge on Monday. He is accused in the death of Cassidy Ritchie, 39. Ritchie was discovered on Sunday by detectives underneath clothing in the back of her vehicle, a light blue 2006 Chrysler Pacifica, near the I Don’t Care Bar and Grill, about seven miles east of Catoosa, KJRH-TV reported.
The television station, citing Oklahoma marriage records, said that Ritchie married Morland on Jan. 7.
Police did not say how Ritchie died but said “she had several injuries from blunt force trauma.”
Tulsa police Lt. Brandon Watkins told KOKI-TV that the department was awaiting results from the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine Ritchie’s cause of death.
The victim had been reported missing by her parents on Jan. 25, four days after she was last seen alive, the Times Record of Wichita Falls reported. Her vehicle was discovered outside the bar the next day, according to KJRH.
Morland had been arrested on warrants out of Texas on Jan. 24 and was brought to Tulsa to meet with police, according to KTUL-TV.
Morland told “multiple stories and multiple versions of those stories,” the police news release stated.
The suspect originally told police that his wife was visiting a friend, the Times Record News reported.
Because Morland was married to Ritchie, authorities asked permission to search the vehicle on Friday but he refused, police said.
“We attempted to get Morland to sign a waiver for the car, but he refused and told us to get a warrant,” police said.
After obtaining a warrant on Sunday, investigators discovered Ritchie’s body hidden under blankets and clothes in the back of the SUV in a way that could not be seen from the outside, KJRH reported.
Morland was arrested on Monday, police said. He was being held in Tulsa County Jail on Tuesday, with bail set at $5 million, the Times Record News reported.