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A Missouri man and his girlfriend are facing charges more than a month after he allegedly assaulted his ex-girlfriend, restrained her to a wheelchair and fatally shot her.
Tony Lawrence Charboneau and his girlfriend, Brandi Luffy, were charged with a number of felonies, including murder and kidnapping, in the death of Charboneau’s ex-girlfriend Amy Hogue, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Houge, 43, had been reported missing in June. Prosecutors said Charboneau had previously been charged with two instances of domestic assault against Houge before she was killed.
Washington County authorities said Charboneau and Luffy had gotten into a verbal argument with Houge on June 20, which eventually escalated to Charboneau “punching and stomping” the victim, according to a warrant application.
Houge was at her ex’s home at the time of the alleged incident. Washington County Sheriff Zach Jacobsen told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that “she was trying to leave.”
“She was just ready to leave the residence, and that’s when the brutal assault took place,” Jacobsen said.
According to the warrant application, the couple placed Houge into a wheelchair and restrained her hands and feet with ratchet straps. Authorities said the two placed shovels, tarps, a pickax and a gun into Charboneau’s vehicle before driving Houge to a wooded area near his home. She was allegedly tied to the wheelchair throughout the incident.
Charboneau began digging a shallow grave down a wooded hill in the area before taking Houge out of the wheelchair and shooting her, according to the warrant. He then burned Houge’s remains and covered the grave with large rocks and tree limbs while his girlfriend remained in his car, keeping watch, authorities said. The two allegedly attempted to cover up the killing by burning the ratchet straps and tarp and throwing Houge’s purse in the river.
Her purse was recovered in mid-July, and that’s when authorities believed she was dead, Jacobsen told the Post-Dispatch.
Charboneau was initially arrested on domestic assault charges on July 18 after police obtained an arrest warrant accusing him of physically assaulting Houge in May 2023, according to the Post-Dispatch. He has been in custody ever since.
During an interview with police, Luffy allegedly confessed that she had acted as a lookout while Charboneau killed and buried Houge and gave detectives the location of the grave, according to the warrant. Houge’s remains were found partially decomposed, with a bullet wound to her head.
“This case is horrifying in every respect, and my office will not rest until the victim’s killers are brought to justice,” prosecuting attorney John Jones said in the press release.
Charboneau has now been charged with first-degree murder, domestic assault, kidnapping, abandonment of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Luffy is charged with felony murder, kidnapping, abandonment of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
The public defender’s office did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Taylor Crider, Houge’s daughter-in-law, said in a GoFundMe launched to offset cremation expenses that Houge “in no way deserved what happened to her.”
Crider said Houge was taken away from her family too soon.
“Nobody deserves to go the way she went,” she said. “She leaves behind a family that loved her dearly.”
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
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