A bizarre missing persons case has turned into an even stranger murder mystery.
Last month, police broke into the home of a dying Indiana woman, Teresa Jarding, and discovered that her husband and her mother were both missing.
About a week later, the dismembered remains of the husband, Milan Lekich, 51, were found stuffed in a garbage can in the garage of the home where he once lived in Hegewisch. The medical examiner’s office says he had been shot several times in the head.
Then last Saturday, the body of a woman was found buried in the backyard of Jarding’s home in Fowler, Ind., a small town about 100 miles southeast of Chicago. Authorities suspect it is Nena Metoyer, 68, Jarding’s mother, but are awaiting results of DNA testing.
Metroyer died from a gunshot wound to the head, authorities said.
Fowler Police Chief Dennis Rice said Wednesday that police do not know when Lekich and Metoyer were killed and are still not sure their deaths are related. His department has been sharing information with Chicago police and no arrests have been made.
Later Tuesday, Fowler police said in a statement that the autopsy of the woman’s body confirmed the remains were those of a white female, and that she died from a gunshot wound to the head in a homicide. Final identification is pending DNA analysis, police said.
Lekich had been reported missing by his family in June of 2013, several months after he got married to Jarding in Las Vegas, according to police.
Jarding later moved to Fowler but it’s not known if Lekich accompanied her. About a year ago, Jarding met someone else in town and “developed a romantic relationship,” according to Rice.
The missing person case got renewed attention last month, on Sept. 20, when Lekich’s sister called Fowler police about her missing brother, Rice said.
The sister said she had learned where Jarding lived in Fowler and had contacted her in hopes of finding her brother. But Jarding would not speak or open the door for her, Rice said.
Four days later, police were called to the home after Jarding’s family called police to say they had not been able to reach Jarding or her mother, who was visiting from Florida, Rice said.
Officers forced their way in and found Jarding in “medical distress,” Rice said. She was sitting on a reclining chair and a gun was nearby. Jarding was suffering from multiple organ failure and died the next day, Rice said. Her mother was not in the home.
On Oct. 5, Lekich’s body was discovered in a garage in the 13300 block of Avenue M, authorities said.
Both legs were severed above or below the knees, and the remains were “mummified,” one source said. They were wrapped in sheets or blankets, the source said. The body was discovered when a relative or neighbor forced their way into the garage after noticing a strong odor, the sources said.
On Oct. 11, the body of a woman was found buried in the backyard of the daughter’s home.
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