Michigan Woman Buried Near Barn Was Suffocated With Duct Tape, Police Say

MUSKEGON (WWJ/AP) - A woman whose body was found buried under a horse corral in western Michigan had been suffocated with duct tape.

The Muskegon Chronicle reported details were disclosed by police two weeks ago, but a court transcript became available Tuesday after district judge denied prosecutor and public defender's office motions seeking that the judge review and possibly seal the record temporarily.

Bobbie Maples, 32, of the Muskegon area, disappeared in December 2014, just days after giving birth. After a tip — reportedly from a county jail inmate — her body was found 13 months later buried near a barn — on Michillinda Road in Fruitland Township, northwest of Grand Rapids — capped with concrete or cement.

Ronald Williams, 35, appeared in court Tuesday on a murder charge and asked for an attorney. He was already jailed on an unrelated drug conviction.

Roosevelt Park police Chief David Boone said Maples had duct tape over her nose and mouth and a plastic bag over her head.

He said Williams admitted to investigators that he "administered" drugs to the woman and was  "the only person present during the time of her death."

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