An Auburndale woman’s boyfriend has been arrested in connection with her mur*der, according to police.
Police Chief Terry Storie said his department began investigating the disappearance of Stacy Ann Powell, 48, when she did not log into her work computer since Feb. 4.
Officers went to her home on Alleria Court to check on her, but instead, they found a handyman who was hired to repair the cabinets in the house. The handyman said the residents were not at the home at that moment.
“While officers were speaking to the handyman, Stacy’s boyfriend, Andrew Ridgeway, pictured here, date of birth 12/21 of ’78, called the handyman inquiring as to why law enforcement was at his residence,” Storie said. “He apparently had security cameras that he could see that we were there.”
According to the chief, an investigating officer spoke with Ridgeway, who said he was in North Carolina with Powell’s grandmother while the victim was supposedly in Jamaica to visit her sick father.
However, this turned out to be a lie.
“We were quickly able to identify that Ridgeway was not telling the truth about his whereabouts, the grandmother’s whereabouts, and Stacy’s whereabouts,” Storie said. “Additionally, Stacy’s father lives in North Carolina, not Jamaica, and the grandmother lives here in Auburndale.”
Detectives searched the couple’s home and found her body. According to the chief, the victim was “savagely” mur*dered sometime on the evening of Feb. 4.
“It was a brutal attack, so much so that we had to wait until this afternoon to get an identification on her because we recovered her body [Thursday] evening,” Storie said.
Ridgeway was located in Augusta, Georgia, driving Powell’s Dodge Ram pickup at 10:45 a.m. He was arrested on charges of making a false report to law enforcement and possession of a stolen vehicle.
A homicide charge is also in progress, Storie said.
According to police, the couple was together two to three years but had no prior instances of domestic violence.
