Ex-Husband Of Florida Woman Charged In Her Death

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- The partial remains of a Florida woman were found inside a container buried in a wildlife area following a massive search.

Tricia Todd, an Air Force veteran and hospice nurse from Hobe Sound, went missing April 25th.  The last known photograph of her shows her at a Publix near her home before she disappeared.

Martin County investigators have charged her ex-husband Steven Williams, who police say led investigators to the spot where his ex-wife was buried.

Williams told investigators Todd died when she fell during an argument and that he used a chainsaw to cut her body into pieces before disposing of it.

"We'll get a response from the medical examiner as they investigate it, but just based on some of the facts of human remains, it would seem more likely than not, that it was some kind of chainsaw," said Martin County Sheriff William Snyder.

Police had searched the area for several days as they interrogated Williams, a U.S. airman stationed in North Carolina. He became a suspect when he was seen on surveillance video driving his ex-wife's truck after she went missing.

Police said he accepted a plea deal in exchange for disclosing the location of Todd's body - a discovery that shocked even veteran investigators.

"Tricia Todd was a real person. She was a living breathing human being and a mother and a hospice nurse and a beautiful woman who certainly deserved to live," said Snyder.

The couple has a 2-year old daughter who investigators believe was left alone at home while Todd's body was being disposed of.

Williams was charged with manslaughter in exchange for taking investigators to the body. He will serve 35 years in state prison.