The husband of a southeast Missouri woman who has been missing for nearly a year is now charged with first-degree murder.
Cape Girardeau County prosecutor Morley Swingle filed the murder charge Monday against 41-year-old Clay Waller, even though the body of his estranged wife, Jacque Waller, has never been found. She disappeared on June 1, shortly after meeting with Waller to finalize their divorce. Authorities still have not located Jacque Waller’s body, according to Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle: “There have been over300 cases nationwide where murder convictions have been affirmed without a body. There’s also a case in Columbia, Missouri last year, in 2011, where a murder conviction was affirmed in a case where there was no body. So, it’s not unheard of.”
Swingle says he will not seek the death penalty. Waller is also charged with tampering with evidence. Clay Waller’s bond is set at one million dollars. He is currently serving a five-year sentence at a federal prison in Louisiana for for threatening Jacque Waller's sister in an online posting.
Waller’s attorney would not comment on the charges.