As reported by the Associated Press for the Washington Post, a man that lost his fiancé after a meth-induced sexual escapade, and then set fire to her body in the cab of his big rig truck, had pleaded guilty to arson and desecrating a corpse.
M.A.R., 49, was celebrating the couple's recent engagement – with agreed-upon use of methamphetamines and sexual bondage that including binding her limbs and inserting a gag in her mouth – when he later discovered that his fiancé, N.C., had died.
In his sorrow and haste, M.A.R. drove her body from California to Mississippi in the cab of his truck before setting fire to it.
Mississippi authorities believe that since N.C.'s death did not occur in the state of Mississippi M.A.R. was not charged with manslaughter. For burning the truck and N.C.'s body, M.A.R. was sentenced to prison for six years, with two years suspended for the time he has already served.
Long haul driver, M.A.R., met N.C., a prostitute, at a truck stop in Texas. The pair fell in love over the course of many meetings, and on September 15, 2009, the two became engaged.
M.A.R. told police that during the couple's celebration of their engagement, the two engaged in bondage-style sex while taking methamphetamines. But, after finding his new fiancé dead, M.A.R. purchased ""all the meth his dealer had" and decided to drive from California to Kiln, Mississippi.
During the long haul N.C.'s body was hidden under a tarp in the truck's cab.
At his plea hearing, within earshot of his ex-wife and three children, M.A.R. said, "I had been up for days. I was not thinking clearly." His plan, to make his final goodbyes to his family and then kill himself, was thwarted when his family took a gun away from him and then police pulled him from his burning rig.
N.C.'s family from Texas failed to attend the hearing but, per Assistant District Attorney Crosby Parker, they sent a message to the court to say that "she was loved."
Todd Thriffiley, M.A.R.'s lawyer, said that his client had never been in trouble with the law prior to his drug use. Thriffiley said that M.A.R., after dealing with many of his relative's deaths, began seeking solace in drugs. He further stated that M.A.R., since being out on bond, had been supporting his family's needs and working to clean up his life.
Authorities in Hancock County, Miss., believe that if the crime had occurred there instead of in California, M.A.R. would have been charged with manslaughter.
Parker said, "Obviously this was a case where the district attorney's office would like to have had jurisdiction of the underlying crime. Because we believe there are charges that we would have prosecuted, but based on jurisdictional limitations we prosecuted everything that we could."
Ricky Fayard, a Hancock County sheriff's investigator, stated his belief: "Did she die at his hand and as a direct result of his actions? Yes."
In addition to his prison sentence, M.A.R. must pay approximately $4,000 to N.C.'s family for the cost of her funeral.
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