Anthony Harris, a 60-year-old truck driver from Michigan, has been apprehended in relation to the gruesome discovery of the decapitated remains of Melody Gooch, 57, near a travel center on I90 in Mitchell, South Dakota.

The grim find was made late on the evening of March 11, 2024, when another trucker noticed a hand and foot sticking out from a stack of pallets behind the travel center and quickly alerted law enforcement.

Upon arrival, South Dakota Law Enforcement officers found a body hidden under the pallets. According to official records, the responding officer observed injuries that suggested the victim had been struck by a vehicle and dragged. The body was decapitated and part of the spinal column was missing.

A subsequent search of the immediate area revealed a bag in a nearby dumpster, containing a head and a bloodstained shoe, as per the official documents.

“Identification of the remains as those of Melody Gooch, a Detroit resident, was made possible by these findings,” announced South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley.

Investigators studied various surveillance videos in the area, which reportedly showed a white semi-truck making suspicious movements around the location where the remains were found, according to the documents.

The footage showed the truck repeatedly backing up over the area where the body was later discovered. It also showed the driver handling an object near this spot before briefly stopping at the dumpster. The truck didn’t make any other stops or refuel before rejoining the interstate, as per the police statements.

Harris was apprehended in Yakima, Washington, on March 14, driving the same semi-truck identified in the surveillance footage, as indicated by police documents. He now faces charges of second-degree murder and improper disposal of a body.

Interviews conducted with Gooch’s relatives revealed that she was last seen with Harris. Although he denied any knowledge of her whereabouts, his work log hours and cell phone records placed him at the crime scenes, correlating with the activities of the truck in the surveillance videos.

“The success of this case is attributed to the cooperative effort of multiple agencies,” Mitchell Police Chief Michael Koster said, highlighting the collaborative work between Mitchell police and the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI).

As of present, no information has been released regarding whether Harris has entered a plea or secured legal representation.