The husband of Shakopee Valley News reporter Ruth Anne Maddox was charged this morning with second-degree murder with intent but without premeditation in her death. 

Charles “Tony” Maddox, 43, made his initial court appearance in Scott County District Court in Shakopee. He faces a maximum of 40 years in prison. The case could go before a grand jury and the charges elevated to first-degree murder. 

The Minnesota Regional Coroner’s Office, in its preliminary findings, concluded that Ruth Anne Maddox, 45, died of blunt-force head and neck injuries sometime late Monday night or early Tuesday. Tony Maddox is alleged to have killed her in their Prior Lake town home and hid her body in the garage.

Police, after three visits to the Maddox home and two visits with her husband, who refused to allow them in the house, obtained a search warrant and entered the residence at 3:17 a.m. Wednesday. According to court records, shortly after police entered the home, Charles Maddox, without being questioned, said, “I might as well save you the trouble; you will find Ruth Anne’s body in the garage.” 

Police found Ruth Anne Maddox’s body wrapped in what appeared to be a tent.

The defendant told police that he and his wife had a fight that evening and that she had come at him with a screwdriver and a knife. He said he put his knee on the arm holding the knife and that he choked her. 

The couple was going through a divorce and Ruth Anne Maddox had expressed concern for her safety on several occasions to friends. She recently informed her supervisor that after the divorce was final, she planned to resign from her job and return to her native Indiana to be closer to her daughter. 

According to court records, Ruth Anne Maddox’s 19-year-old daughter, Kelsey, told police that she had recently received two text messages from the defendant, known as “Tony,” and that he told her that he would never allow her mother to leave him. Ruth Anne Maddox was reported missing by her supervisors on Tuesday afternoon after she failed to show up for work. She sent a text message to a supervisor Tuesday morning, saying she had a doctor's appointment and would let him know when she would be in. That was uncharacteristic, supervisors said, because Maddox would normally call, not send a text message. A male aquaintence in Indiana said he too received a text message from Ruth Anne Maddox's phone on Tuesday morning, also unusual, and that the messsage said, "I'm not having a good morning."

According to the court complaint: After Prior Lake police were alerted, officers went to the condominium at about 4:40 p.m. Tuesday but there was no answer. They returned about 6:11 p.m. and were met at the door by Tony Maddox. He told officers, who noticed two sctaches on his nose, that he didn’t know where his wife was. He told them he received a text message from his wife saying that she was headed out of town and wouldn’t be back until Sunday. The defendant would not allow police inside the home and spoke to them from the front steps. He also refused to sign a missing-person report and said he wanted to see if her family members in Indiana called to report that she arrived there. 

Tony Maddox also told police he was watching football at a friend’s house Monday evening. Ruth Anne Maddox covered a Shakopee School Board meeting Monday night and talked with a female friend by phone about 11:30 p.m. Monday. At 9:14 p.m. Tuesday, police visted the home again, and spoke with Tony Maddox outside the home. It was windy and sleeting at that time, and officers asked if they could go inside the house and he refused. At 3:17 a.m. Wednesday, officers entered with a search warrant.