OSKALOOSA, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have arrested three people who they say weighted down the body of woman and put her in a southern Iowa river to conceal her drug overdose death.
The Iowa Public Safety Department said in a news release Tuesday that 27-year-old Cody Vancenbrock, 34-year-old Holly Kelly and her husband, 28-year-old Nicholas Kelly, face a variety of charges, including abuse of a corpse. Mahaska County court records don’t list lawyers for any of them.
The department says 24-year-old Ashley Shafer died after Vancenbrock injected her with methamphetamine on Aug. 5 at the Kellys’ Oskaloosa apartment.
The department says her body was driven to a rural area of Mahaska County, weighted down and put in the South Skunk River. The body was found and recovered the next day.
Charges against Vancenbrock include involuntary manslaughter.