The ex-boyfriend of the Florida woman whose body was found in a shallow grave in St. Clair County last spring was recently charged with abusing a corpse.
Cassie Carli went missing in March and received national media attention after she was found dead in a shallow grave in a barn located off Highway 11 in Springville.
Carli was last seen in the parking lot of a restaurant in Navarre, Florida, on March 27, where she was meeting with Marcus Spanevelo, her ex-boyfriend and the father of her four-year-old daughter.
Last week, autopsy reports on Carli’s body conducted by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences ruled both the cause and the manner of death “undetermined.”
Spanevelo was initially charged with tampering with evidence, giving false information concerning a missing person’s investigation and destruction of evidence.
Carli’s father reported her missing on March 28, and authorities located Carli’s vehicle behind the restaurant.
Spanevelo told her father that Carli asked him to drop her off “in the middle of nowhere in Destin” so she could be with a friend.
Investigators traveled over 1,500 miles searching for the missing girl and issued multiple search warrants on cars, phones, houses and properties.
On April 2, they searched the barn in Springville and found her body, confirming her identity by a tattoo she had in an unusual location.
Investigators did not reveal what information led them to that location, but they did say Spanevelo had connections to the area.
According to reports, Spanevelo was living in Springville before Carli disappeared.
In Lebanon, Tennessee, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Tennessee Highway Patrol arrested Spanevelo after he was stopped for a traffic violation.
Sheriff Bob Johnson of Santa Rosa County, Florida, said in April that Spanevelo was “totally uncooperative,” and they believe he took Carli’s phone, disposed of it and lied to authorities on multiple occasions.
Spanevelo was extradited to Florida but was never charged with Carli’s death.
According to reports, Florida officials dismissed the charges against Spanevelo last week and decided his case would be better handled in Alabama.
Spanevelo was charged with the felony in St. Clair County and has agreed to extradition. The charge against him will be eligible for bond.
A felony charge of abuse of corpse in Alabama is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
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