A missing mother-of-four who was married for less than a month has been found dead in her car under a pile of clothes and blankets.
The body of Cassidy Ritchie, 39, was discovered ‘underneath clothing in the back of the SUV’ belonging to her on Sunday morning, according to the Tulsa Police Department.
Ritchie’s family members reported her missing last week after not seeing or hearing from her for days. Her vehicle was discovered ‘with extensive off-road debris on it’ near Inola, the police department wrote on Facebook.
She has four children with the oldest in college, according to Hollie Suddath, whose father is the longtime friend of Ritchie’s dad.
‘After seeing how many people have been worried and following this case and knowing how many people cared for Cassie,’ wrote Suddath on a GoFundMe page for Ritchie’s funeral expenses, ‘I’m asking anyone in the position to donate to please do so and help this family be able to mourn their loss as peacefully as possible.’
Detectives served a warrant on her vehicle recovered close to the I Don’t Care Bar and Grill.
Ritchie married Chris Morland on January 7, Oklahoma court records show.
Morland was arrested on Thursday on a warrant on a different matter out of Texas and was awaiting extradition. He was booked into Tulsa County Jail on Friday and questioned on his wife’s disappearance and is now considered a person of interest in the case.
The husband has a lengthy criminal record in several states and faces domestic violence and larceny charges.
Ritchie’s oldest son and her mother said they were not aware of Morland’s record of domestic violence and that she may not have known about it.
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Her son, Joey David, told KJRH that Morland ‘just said the right things at the wrong time’ to gain her trust ‘and he just took advantage of her’.
Ritchie’s mother, Cheryl Ritchie, told the TV station: ‘She saw the good in everybody and she just, she didn’t deserve this at all. No one does.’
She added, ‘Our new family motto is, “He messed with the wrong family.”‘
Detectives had to ask Morland for permission to search his wife’s vehicle because they were married and he refused to give it. Morland declined to answer questions about his wife as of Monday afternoon.
‘We’re looking for trace evidence, blood evidence,’ Lt Brandon Watkins told KJRH. ‘And what you don’t want to do is contaminate the crime scene.’
Cops reported that Ritchie was previously involved in incidents of domestic violence.
The case is being investigated as a homicide.
Anyone with information on the incident is urged to contact the Tulsa Crime Stoppers.
‘If anybody has seen anyone driving or stuck in the mud and grass in an area out there that they normally wouldn’t see somebody, especially in that blue car, please give us a call and let us know,’ Watkins told FOX 23.
‘We’re looking for anywhere that they might have been.’
The GoFundMe page had raised more than $7,300 as of Monday evening.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
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