Two Ohio men partied while the body of a mother of four that one of them beat to death lay in a closet for up to several days, a prosecutor says.
Kyle Starkey, 25, of Ashtabula, Ohio, beat his live-in girlfriend Mandy Gottschalk, 36, to death while Ryan McBride, 20, of North Kingsville witnessed this, and they both partied elsewhere while Gottschalk’s lay hidden in the closet “for as long as a few days,” Ashtabula County Prosecutor Nicholas Iarocci said in a statement.
A grand jury indicted Starkey for murder, felonious assault, evidence tampering, gross abuse of a corpse and domestic violence, according to the statement. The panel indicted McBride for evidence tampering and gross abuse of a corpse, Iarocci’s statement said.
When the two men returned to the home in this Lake Erie community 60 miles northeast of Cleveland, they removed the body from the closet and Starkey buried it in a shallow grave near the home, Iarocci said.
Preliminary autopsy results show that Gottschalk died of blunt force trauma, the prosecutor said.
“Starkey’s actions, if proven in a court of law, represent one of the most brutal beatings and murders that has taken place since my tenure as county prosecutor,” Iarocci said.
The beating allegedly took place Aug. 15th. Gottschalk’s mother, Barbara Carraher, reported her missing two days later, reports the Ashtabula Current and Fox 8 News. The body was likely buried on Aug. 18, officials told the Current.
Carraher will take care of two of Gottschalk’s children and grandparents will take care of another two, Fox 8 News reports.
Both suspects have requested court-appointed lawyers, WKYC reports.