The two people found dead in York County Wednesday was the mother and sister of the man arrested in connection with the case.
Andrew Donald Buchert is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of unlawful disposing of a body. Authorities in court papers identified the two as Buchert’s 83-year-old mother, Patricia Buchert, and his sister, Linda Buchert Daniels, 63.
The Associated Press reported that according to court papers, the bodies were dumped in an abandoned swimming pool.
Authorities said the deaths could have occurred as early as March 4. York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Shelley Ward said the women were first reported missing in late March after a friend asked police to perform a welfare check.
York-Poquoson Sheriff’s deputies were called to the 200 block of Aspen Boulevard around 5 p.m. Wednesday to check the welfare of the two women, according to a YPSO news release.
Authorities said Buchert initially told investigators the women were out of town. But police said in court papers they later came back to the house to follow up and noticed a blue sheet “with a large red substance on it” and detected “an odor of decomposition coming from the area of the pool.”
An autopsy is expected to determine their causes of death.
Buchert is being held without bond in the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail.
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