An acquaintance allegedly confessed to killing a Missouri woman who was found dead on Monday, six days after she had vanished.
According to KTVI, police said suspect Joseph Dejoie, 49, and Jacquelyn Mitchell, 39, had exchanged text messages on the same day Mitchell disappeared on March 14. Maryland Heights police Chief Bill Carson said they zeroed in on Dejoie after reviewing surveillance footage of Dejoie driving Mitchell’s car.
On Monday, authorities from St. Charles and Maryland Heights discovered Jacquelyn Mitchell’s body in a Maryland Heights apartment where Dejoie resided. Carson said Mitchell had been dead for six days.
Reported missing on March 16, Mitchell, 39, vanished on March 14 after leaving work in Sunset Hills and going to Maggie O’Brien’s, a restaurant that is located nearby.
At some point, an owner of a jewelry store reportedly gave Mitchell’s sister surveillance footage which apparently showed Mitchell in a shopping plaza before she left alone in her car. Mitchell’s sister gave the video to the police.
Mitchell’s sister said her cell phone last pinged near Highway 364 and Bennington, which allowed investigators to focus on a six-mile radius in Maryland Heights. On Sunday, Mitchell’s relatives reportedly found her car abandoned at the Whisper Hollow Apartments in Maryland Heights.
Additionally, Carson claimed that Mitchell left the restaurant and went to an acquaintance’s apartment, presumably Dejoie’s. Police reportedly discovered Mitchell’s body in Dejoie’s home after obtaining a search warrant.
According to KMOV, Dejoie also admitted to wiping down Mitchell’s car and her body in an attempt to hide evidence. Officials have not revealed Mitchell’s cause of death.
Dejoie has prior convictions for burglary, rape, and possession of drug paraphernalia, KTVI reported.
Dejoie is charged with second-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, and abandonment of a corpse. He remains jailed on a $1 million bond.
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[Featured image: Joseph Dejoie/Maryland Heights Police Department; Jacquelyn Mitchell/Handout]
