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The ex-husband of a missing Whitley County woman was charged with murder Friday as officials continued searching for her body.
Debra Houser, 49, was reported missing Wednesday by a man who walked into the Whitley County Sheriff's Department. That man told officials that Houser's ex-husband, Rodney Houser, had confessed to killing the woman.
Rodney L. Houser, 43, was arrested Wednesday and taken in for questioning, according to Whitley Circuit Court records filed Friday. He now faces a charge of murder and was being held without bail at the Whitley County Jail.
According to court records, Rodney Houser came to the unidentified man's Waynedale home in Fort Wayne about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, asking for help. The help included disposing of a bag of items – including blood-stained clothing – and a Dodge Durango SUV he was driving, according to documents.
The items were thrown in a trash bin, and the Dodge was left without a license plate at the American Legion Post at 7605 Bluffton Road. The man drove Houser back to his ex-wife's home at 4041 Old Trail Road, just west of Columbia City, according to court documents.
That same morning Houser told the man he had killed his ex-wife and needed help burying her body, which was hidden a short distance from the home. Houser told the man he was "sure" his ex-wife was dead, according to court documents.
After the man dropped off Houser, he went to the sheriff's department for help. Deputies arrived at the Old Trail Road home just before 11 a.m. Wednesday and arrested Houser.
The search for Debra Houser's body continued until dusk Friday without success.
Five area cadaver dogs, about 30 law enforcement officers and a state police plane were involved in the search. Officials are working from a command post established at the Richland Township Fire Department off U.S. 30 in Larwill.
"We haven't had any positive endpoint yet," Sheriff Mark Hodges said.
Their search will resume today and will include several township fire departments searching Whitley County waterways, Hodges said. The sheriff said he was unsure how long the search would continue before being called off if Debra Houser's body isn't found.
The sheriff's department is welcoming help from the public in conducting today's search.
When deputies questioned Houser, he denied having left the Old Trail Road home, then changed his story to say he had visited a friend, whose full name he could not recall. Deputies said they were not able to confirm that story, according to court records.
Houser denied fighting with his wife the night before her disappearance, but the couple's 9-year-old son told deputies they had fought over who was supposed to be home when he got off the school bus, according to court records. The boy said he went to bed at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and that his father said his mother had left early for work the next day, according to court documents.
Deputies said the SUV was registered to Debra Houser and had apparent fresh blood in the back seat. The bag of items retrieved from the trash bin also contained Debra Houser's purse, cell phone and suspected blood-stained clothing, according to court records.
Debra Houser's sisters said they tried to tell her to leave her ex-husband.
"I just thought, 'Oh, my gosh! He's finally done something,' " said Karen Caprioni, an older sister.
Kathy Nicholson, a younger sister, said: "I knew this was going to happen. I think sometimes we are angry because this is how it had to end up. We're just angry that one human being thinks they can take the life of another human being."
Debra Houser's family said she had been living "on and off" with her ex-husband for about five years after their divorce. The couple were married about three years. Debra Houser also had two grown children.
She most recently worked for about a year in the mailroom at the Post & Mail newspaper in Columbia City, publisher Doug Brown said.
"The last couple days have been very rough," he said. "They (the employees) were all very close to her. We are holding out hope as much as we can."
Brown said Debra Houser, usually prompt to arrive at work on time, was to report for her shift at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday but never showed up.
