A Missouri man with an alleged history of domestic abuse is accused of strapping his ex into a wheelchair and forcing her to watch him and his new girlfriend dig her grave before killing her, investigators said.
Tony Charboneau, 36, was charged with the murder of his former girlfriend, Amy Hogue, 43, and other crimes related to her death after she vanished on June 20, Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John Jones announced last week.
Charboneau supposedly got into an argument with Hogue, which led to him punching and stomping on her as she was leaving his home on the day she went missing, according to the probable cause arrest affidavit.
Charboneau and his current girlfriend, Brandi Luffy, then allegedly forced Hogue into a manual wheelchair and tied her arms and feet using ratchet straps, police said.
Luffy, 40, and Charboneau left Hogue strapped into the wheelchair while they gathered “shovels, tarps, pickax (sic), and a firearm,” cops said.
With the items and Hogue in the back of Charboneau’s car, the couple then allegedly drove from Charboneau’s home in Sullivan to a wooded area.
Once the pair found an isolated spot, Hogue was forced to watch while Charboneau dug a shallow grave, authorities said.
Charboneau then allegedly took Hogue out of the wheelchair and shot and killed her.
He “spent the rest of the day burring (sic)her in the grave, covering her with large rocks and tree limbs,” the affidavit said.
Luffy supposedly stayed with the car and served as a lookout for any passerby.
After leaving Hogue’s body in the makeshift grave, Charboneau and Luffy then burned the ratchet straps and tarp. They also disposed of the victim’s purse in a river in nearby Jefferson County, police said.
Hogue – who had three children unrelated to Charboneau – was reported missing by her family around the time of the attack.
She appeared to have been trying to leave Charnoneau’s residence when she was attacked, Washington County Sheriff Zach Jacobsen told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“She was just ready to leave the residence, and that’s when the brutal assault took place,” he explained.
Hogue’s purse was found by authorities in mid-July, which was when “we realized she was probably dead,” Jacobsen added.
Charboneau was immediately a suspect due to his history of allegedly abusing Hogue – including a May 2023 incident when he supposedly hit her so hard from behind that she passed out, Jacobsen said.
Another case from October 2023 was also pending at the time of Hogue’s disappearance, Law & Crime reported.
After police found Hogue’s purse, they requested an arrest warrant based on the May 2023 incident and took Charboneau into custody on suspicion of murder.
Despite having their prime suspect in custody, the investigation initially struggled to gain ground due to the limitations of the rural area, Jacobsen told the Post-Dispatch.
“We are trying to piece this together with no cell service so it’s hard to ping phones,” Jacobsen said.
“So it’s old school police work, knocking on doors, interviewing everybody that we encounter, executing search warrants. They are literally boots on the ground. No technology in God’s country. And with no cell service, you’re not leaving a digital footprint.”
On Aug. 2, Brandi Luffy admitted to helping Charboneau kill Hogue and dispose of her remains, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Investigators dug up Hogue’s remains, which were “partially decomposed with an obvious bullet wound” to the head, the document added.
In addition to first-degree murder, Charboneau was charged with domestic assault, kidnapping, abandonment of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, prosecutors said.
Luffy was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, abandonment of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
Both remain behind bars on $1 million cash-only bond.
“This crime is heinous, and it was pointless,” Jacobsen told KDSK of Hogue’s killing.
“That makes it even worse, the fact that she finally got enough and she was ready to leave and get away from this situation, and she was killed for it.”
The isolated area made it even harder for Hogue and other domestic violence victims to seek help, he added.
“There’s hardly any cell service here. So if you do need help, it’s pretty hard to get help. There’s a lot of things that could have changed in this situation,” he said.
Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John I. Jones IV said in a statement that his office would “not rest” until the suspects were brought to justice.
Hogue was remembered by her family as a loving mother and brand-new grandmother.
Hogue vanished just four days after her first grandson was born, her daughter-in-law wrote on the family’s GoFundMe page.
Because her son and his family live in Louisiana, Hogue never got to meet the baby before she was killed, the grieving relative added.
“She was a mother and my best friend. She did not deserve this,” Hogue’s son, Corbin Crider, wrote in a Facebook tribute.
“There are truly monsters in this world we live in,” he added.
As of Tuesday, the GoFundMe had raised $2,500 of its $5,000 goal.
