- Melody Gooch found with severed head and “skinned” at South Dakota truck stop, police say
- Her family told authorities she was last seen with Anthony Harris, who was arrested in connection with her death, according to the affidavit
- Gooch’s injuries indicate she was “struck by a vehicle” and then dragged, according to the affidavit
A Michigan truck driver has been arrested in connection with the death of a woman whose headless body was found in South Dakota, according to an arrest affidavit.
On March 11, police found the body of 57-year-old Melody Gooch with gruesome injuries near a tourist center in Mitchell, SD, according to an affidavit shared by KELO and reviewed by PEOPLE.
Anthony Harris, 60, was arrested in Washington state on March 14 on charges of second-degree murder and burying a body without lawful authority, according to an affidavit.
Gooch’s remains were found by a person who called police in Mitchell on the evening of March 11. A caller reported finding a body covered in a stack of pallets at a truck stop, according to the affidavit.
The responding officer determined that the victim appeared to have been “struck by a vehicle” and that her wounds indicated she may have been “dragged away from the initial point of impact,” authorities said in an affidavit.
Gooch’s body was found without a head, according to the autopsy report in the affidavit, and with part of the spine missing.
When police searched the area where her remains were found, they found a “skinned” and severed head and a bloodied sneaker in a bag inside a dumpster on the property of the stop, according to the affidavit.
An autopsy determined the woman could not have died from “any trauma other than being struck, struck or run over by a vehicle,” according to the affidavit.
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Authorities viewed several security videos near the site, which allegedly showed a semi truck engaging in “suspicious” activity at the locations where Gooch’s remains were found, according to the affidavit.
They saw the truck allegedly back up more than five times at the location where Gooch’s body was later found, police said. The video also allegedly shows the driver picking up an object from the area, then driving toward a dumpster where he stopped briefly, police said.
Subsequently, after speaking with Gooch’s family, police learned she was last seen with Harris, authorities said in the affidavit. Harris reportedly denied knowing where Gooch was.
Police also spoke with Harris’ employer and, using his work log and cell phone records, placed him near both locations where Gooch’s body was found, with a time that was consistent with the semi truck’s activity seen on security footage, according to the affidavit .
When he was arrested in Yakima, Wash., Harris was allegedly in the same pickup truck as the one seen on the security footage, police said in an affidavit. Gooch’s cause of death has not been determined.
It was not immediately clear whether Harris had entered a plea to the charges or had retained an attorney.
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Source: HIS Education