The body of a missing 37-year-old Florida woman who disappeared about a week ago has been recovered in a shallow grave in Alabama on April 2, authorities confirmed.
“Cassie Carli, who has been missing now for about a week—we discovered her body while executing a search warrant in Alabama,” Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson told a news conference on April 3.
“It was in a barn, in a shallow grave, so it is not the ending that we wanted, obviously. But we’re hoping to provide a little closure for the family,” he said.
Authorities found the body just hours after Marcus Spanevelo, the ex-husband of the victim, was arrested in connection with her March 27 disappearance. Carli was last seen at the parking lot of Juana’s restaurant in Navarre, Pensacola Beach.
Last week, police said they were able to confirm that the woman’s daughter, Saylor, was found safe. They also recovered Carli’s vehicle at that time.
“[Spanevelo] was totally uncooperative, he never cooperated at all with us, and that goes a long way,” Johnson said, noting that he only said “lawyer.”
“I mean ... it’s your baby’s mother and she is missing, and you are not going to cooperate with authorities, then that’s kind of telltale,” he added.
The suspect could face additional charges after an autopsy is completed on Monday, which will reveal Carli’s cause of death.
Raeann Carli, the younger sister of Carli, said in a video statement after authorities recovered her sister’s body that Saylor “is in a home with loving people” and is safe.
“Just in general, with her relationship with him, it has always been, she has had some fear of him,” she said. “He’s always controlling, and tried to be manipulative, and she had some fear of him in the past. And what he’s capable of, or planning maliciously towards her.”
