Melody Gambetty Clarksville, Indiana woman killed and decapitated by Brian Williams during a botched robbery at her home. Suspect seen leaving crime scene with suitcases, later determined to be filled with the victim’s head and other body parts.
An Indiana man has been charged with murder after firefighters found a woman’s decapitated, mutilated body inside her burning apartment on Tuesday.
A search of suspect, Brian Williams‘ house also led to police finding 67 year old victim, Melody Gambetty‘s head in a suitcase along with ‘human digits’ – such as fingers and toes – inside a plastic container at the man’s home.
Following his arrest, Williams, 36, was charged with murder, arson and misdemeanor theft in connection with the death of 67-year-old Melody Gambetty according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by WDRB.
Police said they didn’t believe Williams knew Gambetty and that the woman may have been murdered during a botched robbery attempt at the victim’s house the day before setting the victim’s house on fire.
Notice of the woman’s dismembered body came after fire crew responded to a call of a fire at Gambetty’s apartment at a Clarksville apartment complex Tuesday morning. Upon entering the residence, responding crew found her body on the floor. She had been decapitated and other body parts removed.
Woman’s head found in suitcase at suspect’s house
During a Wednesday press conference, Clarksville Police Major Joe Demoss said Williams was identified as the suspect after surveillance tape of the area showed him leaving the victim’s residence with a suitcase.
At the time of the robbery, Williams had allegedly been knocking on doors in the neighborhood on Monday, asking people for community service work, WDRB reported.
Surveillance footage shows Williams initially entering the complex at 12:42 p.m, according to the probable cause affidavit. He then leaves carrying two suitcases to the victim’s car at 3:51 p.m.
Investigators then secured a warrant to search Williams’ home the day after Tuesday’s fire – where they found the missing body parts, as well as Gambetty’s identification card, credit and debit cards, the court records show.
‘Located inside one of the victim’s suitcases was a human cranium, with full facial tissue to include hair attached,’ the affidavit reads.
Cops also found a small, bloody handsaw in one of the suitcases, KDRB reported.
‘I had a conversation with her son this morning on the way to work and tried to explain to him what happened before it was in the media, but these cases are hard,’ Demoss told the outlet.
Botched robbery
He also said: ‘Yesterday’s crime scene in my 23 years is one of the most horrific we’ve been involved in.’
Clarksville Police Chief Mark Palmer said that in his 32 years as a police officer, he had ‘never seen anything like this.’
An autopsy will determine Gambetty’s official cause of death, but police said she appears to have had stab wounds.
Investigators believe Gambetty was killed Monday and that Williams returned to her apartment on Tuesday and started a fire to cover evidence.
Witnesses at the apartment complex reported that a young, suspicious but polite man was going door-to-door Monday attempting to solicit ‘community service work,’ according to court records.
Clarksville is located along the Ohio River just north of Louisville, Kentucky.
Prosecutor Jeremy Mull said Gambetty suffered ‘a violent death.’
‘It was a gruesome crime scene and it’s very important to me as the prosecutor that the perpetrator be held responsible,’ he said.
He told WLKY that he was not certain if he would pursue the death penalty.
Williams was ordered held without bond on Wednesday during his initial hearing in Clark County Circuit Court, at which a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.