Joshua David Fury, Maple Grove Minnesota man charged w/ wife murder after Maria Pew Fury threatened to leave him as marital problems intensified.
A Minnesota man who claimed his wife had disappeared has been charged with murder after her strangled body was found buried in a crawlspace at their Maple Grove home.
Joshua David Fury, 28, has been charged with second-degree murder for allegedly strangling his wife Maria Pew Fury, 28, by putting a plastic bag over her head and burying her body, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Tuesday.
The husband’s arrest follows Joshua Fury reporting Maria Fury missing on Thursday April 30, only for investigators to find the ‘missing’ woman’s body two days later, KTSP reports.
Police were dispatched to the couple’s Maple Grove home on the 11000 block of Red Fox Drive after Joshua claimed Maria had vanished and they found her cellphone inside.
A two-day large-scale search was launched with teams on the ground and searching by helicopter.
Police served a search warrant on Saturday May 2 at the couple’s Maple Grove home where sniffer dogs detected human remains in a crawl space that was no more than four feet tall and had a dirt floor in the basement.
A second search warrant allowed police to dig in the crawl space and her body was found about 1.30am Saturday after hours of digging.
Police found the preliminary cause of death to be asphyxiation from a plastic bag taped over her head and nose.
Investigator interviews with Maria’s family, friends and mother found that the couple was having marital problems and Fury was ‘controlling and possessive’.
Not even three years from their first date, Josh Fury is arrested for the death of his wife Maria Fury.
Both of Maple Grove. pic.twitter.com/XNYz0Ji9yx— Chey Cab (@CheyCab) May 2, 2020
Planned to use the same duct tape roll he used to wrap Maria’s body to hang missing posters:
Fury upon his arrest gave multiple statements insisting that he didn’t harm his wife and cast blame on one of her former boyfriends.
He eventually confessed that he killed Maria by strangling her, putting a plastic bag over her head and burying her body, police said.
New gory details also included Joshua Fury planning to use the same duct tape roll he used to wrap Maria’s body to hang missing posters for her as he pretended that she had vanished during her walk around the neighborhood.
The Wednesday revelation led to prosecutors requesting a high bail for Joshua due to the extremely violent nature of the crime and his cover-up plan.
Marriage was rife with domestic violence:
Maria’s mother said her daughter was going to leave him.
Friends and family of Maria said he was ‘possessive and controlling’ and she intended to leave him.
He told investigators that he suffers from depression and attempted to commit suicide following the murder.
He expected to make his first court appearance in the death of his wife on Wednesday. Prosecutors will be seeking bail of $2million.
Maria Fury’s parents, Lissa Weimelt and Bill Pew, condemned Fury’s murder as a ‘horrific, unthinkable crime’.
‘Maria Pew is a victim of a horrific, unthinkable crime. But we will not allow her to be remembered that way; Maria would hate it if the world saw her as a victim. Maria was so much more. She was our daughter, our niece, our cousin, our friend; she loved her family and was fiercely loyal. A happy, strong, resilient, supportive, and caring individual, Maria did so much in her 28 years. But she also left behind hopes and dreams, and she left undone infinite possibilities,’ they said in a family statement.
The family is asking that people consider supporting Cornerstone, an organization that works with families experiencing domestic violence and have started a fundraiser to support to group in Maria’s name.
