Missing person case quickly turned into homicide investigation when police discovered man lied about his girlfriend whereabouts to cover his tracks

A Florida man is expected to be charged in connection with what officials are describing as the “horrific” killing of his girlfriend after he allegedly lied to police about her whereabouts.

Auburndale police said in a press release that Andrew Ridgeway, 46, was tracked down in Georgia on Feb. 7 and taken into custody.

His apprehension came after his girlfriend, Stacy Ann Powell, 48, was reported missing on Feb. 6 and later found “savagely” murdered in her home, according to Auburndale Police Chief Terry Storie at a press conference.

According to Auburndale police, Powell was reported missing after she failed to log on to her work computer for two days. When officers arrived at her residence, the only person there was a handyman, who reportedly told the police that the residents of the home were not there.

While investigators were at Powell’s home, Ridgeway called the handyman to ask them why there were police officers at the house. He had apparently seen them in security footage he was able to view remotely.

When police questioned Ridgeway by phone, he allegedly told them that he was in North Carolina visiting Stacy’s grandmother.

When asked about where Powell was, he allegedly told police that she had taken an Uber to the airport on Feb. 5, planning to fly to Jamaica to visit her ailing father.

Upon further investigation, police determined that there were several issues with Ridgeway’s story. Powell’s grandmother, for example, was not in North Carolina — she was in Auburndale.

And Powell’s father was not in Jamaica, he was in North Carolina, and he had also called law enforcement himself after not hearing from his daughter for two days.

Police became suspicious and acquired a search warrant for Powell’s home on Feb. 6. They eventually found Powell’s body and evidence that she had been “brutally attacked and murdered.” Storie said at the press conference that she was allegedly attacked “savagely,” and that “not one, two, but three crime scene technicians” were provided to process the scene.

Powell was positively identified a day later.In the press release, Storie called the alleged murder “horrific and unnecessary.”

Ridgeway, who was tracked down in Augusta, Georgia, while driving Powell’s Dodge Ram pickup truck, was charged in Florida with providing false information to law enforcement. Storie said during the press conference that detectives were working with the Florida state attorney’s office to obtain an arrest warrant for a homicide charge.Ridgeway remains in custody in Georgia as of this writing.