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Guilty Verdict In Halloween Party Murder Of Chelsea Bruck

MONROE (WWJ/AP) -- The jury deliberated less than a few hours before coming to a guilty verdict against Daniel Clay in the death of Chelsea Bruck.

Daniel Clay
Daniel Clay (credit: Monroe County Sheriff's Office)

A Monroe County jury found Clay guilty of felony murder and guilty of concealing a body.

The body of Bruck was found months after she disappeared from a massive Halloween party in 2014 in Monroe County.

Charged with open murder -- authorities say 28-year-old Daniel Clay confessed to a role in Chelsea Bruck's death, but he claimed she died accidentally during rough sex.

Bruck was last seen alive at a huge party at a rural property on Post Road in Frenchtown Township, early in the morning of Oct. 26, 2014. The 22-year-old's Poison Ivy character Halloween Costume was found about six months later at an industrial site.

Reward Increases To Over $17,000 For Information On Missing Woman Chelsea Bruck

Her remains were discovered a few weeks later — on April 24, 2015 — in a wooded lot on Briar Hill Road in Ash Township, about 12 miles away from her last known whereabouts.

Clay was arrested in May 2016 in the theft of tattoo equipment; and, in July, his girlfriend allegedly told police he'd called her from jail and confessed to the killing, claiming he'd accidentally choked her too hard during rough, but consensual sexual activity in his car.

In contrast to Clay's story, however, the Wayne County Medical Examiner found that Bruck died from blunt force trauma to the head. Police said DNA taken from him while he was in jail matched DNA found on Bruck's costume.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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