bloodrayne
04-17-2004, 01:52 PM
Missing N.Y. Woman Found in Storage Unit
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - The body of a woman missing since 1990 was found stuffed inside a container at a rental storage unit, and authorities charged her then-boyfriend with murder.
George W. Geddes Jr. was ordered held without bail Monday in the death of Margaret Reome, 31.
Her badly decomposed body was found inside a container last week at a U-Haul Self Storage facility in Cicero, about 10 miles north of Syracuse.
Reome's dental records were used to identify her. Officials said she died from severe trauma to the head.
The victim's three children attended Geddes' arraignment Monday.
``I want to tell him how much I hate him,'' Jerilyn Reome said, ``because he took my mother.''
Geddes had a criminal history dating back to 1978, and he was convicted in 1993 of raping a 13-year-old girl.
``That girl was me,'' Jerilyn Reome told The Post-Standard of Syracuse. ``I think (my mother) found out he sexually abused me and she confronted him.''
``Talk about dying for your kids,'' she said. Her mother disappeared just two weeks after Geddes was arrested in the rape.
Last summer, local authorities learned that Geddes was renting the 5-foot-by-5-foot storage unit. But it wasn't until last month that they realized he had not reported it to federal officials as required by the terms of his probation, Sheriff Kevin Walsh said.
The FBI obtained a search warrant.
``I don't think there's anybody in law enforcement who would think a defendant would be that stupid to keep a dead body in a storage shed rented under his own name,'' District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said. ``Luckily, people like this keep us in business.''
Reome apparently was killed sometime in February 1990 at the apartment she shared with Geddes in Mattydale, a Syracuse suburb. Investigators searched the apartment at the time, but did not find any evidence, Walsh said.
Walsh said the family waited a month to report Reome missing, which gave Geddes a chance to conceal his crime. Police believe Geddes may have stored the body shortly after the murder. He was paying $38 a month for the unit.
``Contrary to what you see on television shows, dead bodies are difficult to get rid of,'' Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick said Geddes gave investigators a statement incriminating himself but declined to offer any specifics. FBI agents took Geddes into custody Thursday.
Police said the unit smelled when they opened it, though no one had apparently noticed the odor before.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - The body of a woman missing since 1990 was found stuffed inside a container at a rental storage unit, and authorities charged her then-boyfriend with murder.
George W. Geddes Jr. was ordered held without bail Monday in the death of Margaret Reome, 31.
Her badly decomposed body was found inside a container last week at a U-Haul Self Storage facility in Cicero, about 10 miles north of Syracuse.
Reome's dental records were used to identify her. Officials said she died from severe trauma to the head.
The victim's three children attended Geddes' arraignment Monday.
``I want to tell him how much I hate him,'' Jerilyn Reome said, ``because he took my mother.''
Geddes had a criminal history dating back to 1978, and he was convicted in 1993 of raping a 13-year-old girl.
``That girl was me,'' Jerilyn Reome told The Post-Standard of Syracuse. ``I think (my mother) found out he sexually abused me and she confronted him.''
``Talk about dying for your kids,'' she said. Her mother disappeared just two weeks after Geddes was arrested in the rape.
Last summer, local authorities learned that Geddes was renting the 5-foot-by-5-foot storage unit. But it wasn't until last month that they realized he had not reported it to federal officials as required by the terms of his probation, Sheriff Kevin Walsh said.
The FBI obtained a search warrant.
``I don't think there's anybody in law enforcement who would think a defendant would be that stupid to keep a dead body in a storage shed rented under his own name,'' District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said. ``Luckily, people like this keep us in business.''
Reome apparently was killed sometime in February 1990 at the apartment she shared with Geddes in Mattydale, a Syracuse suburb. Investigators searched the apartment at the time, but did not find any evidence, Walsh said.
Walsh said the family waited a month to report Reome missing, which gave Geddes a chance to conceal his crime. Police believe Geddes may have stored the body shortly after the murder. He was paying $38 a month for the unit.
``Contrary to what you see on television shows, dead bodies are difficult to get rid of,'' Fitzpatrick said.
Fitzpatrick said Geddes gave investigators a statement incriminating himself but declined to offer any specifics. FBI agents took Geddes into custody Thursday.
Police said the unit smelled when they opened it, though no one had apparently noticed the odor before.