UPDATE: The victim has been identified as Claudine Marroquin, 36 years of age.
LAWTON, Okla. — Lawton police make a gruesome discovery tonight after they unearthed the body of a woman buried in the backyard of a Lawton home.
Police actually started searching the victim last night after they went to the home at 17th and N.W. Irwin to follow-up on a missing person’s report.
Detectives have been working around the clock since that initial call. They still have not released the victim’s name, but late this afternoon, they announced an arrest in her death.
A family member says her sister’s death was something she always feared.
The missing person’s report was filed only two days ago. But family members had not heard from her in at least 10 days.
A family member told police that the woman had previous bouts of abuse with her husband.
When officers went to check on her welfare, the husband refused to let them in. Police quickly assigned an investigator to the case.
It didn’t take long for authorities to believe that the woman had been seriously injured. Four hours later police returned to the home. When the husband allowed them inside, their suspicions became reality.
They noticed, what could have been blood on the wall and floor.
These findings led to a search warrant. Officers and detectives began searching the house and the backyard.
They found what appeared to be a body buried in the backyard. Police then contacted the state medical examiner’s office.
It was there, under an old above-ground swimming pool, that they discovered the body beneath freshly disturbed ground in a plastic bag releasing a foul odor.
With the morning sunlight a team, consisting of Lawton Police, a forensic archaeologist, and the state medical examiner began working to excavate the body and all evidence.
They even utilized the Lawton fire department’s equipment to further their investigation from a bird’s eye view.
Upon finding the body, police arrested the husband. They had been trailing him since that first encounter.
He was located at one the local motels. Police knew whenever he left the residence last night, that’s where he went.
Police had an officer watching that room all night long. Once they verified that there was a body police went and made the arrest.
The missing woman’s husband was taken to the police department for questioning. After the interview, he was booked into the Lawton city jail on a murder charge.
Lawton police are still actively investigating this case. The names of both the suspect and the victim are being withheld until confirmation is received from the state medical examiner’s office.
