A Broward County man who reported his wife missing last month has been charged with murder in her killing, authorities said.
Ernest Gordon, 44, was arrested Friday on a second-degree murder charge in the death of 42-year-old Wanda Gordon, Broward Sheriff's Office officials said Tuesday.
Officials said Wanda Gordon was already dead when her husband reported her missing on Nov. 7. But missing persons detectives spent more than two weeks searching for her until the case was transferred to homicide detectives who learned of her fate, officials said.
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Investigators discovered the couple and their three children had been at Fort Lauderdale Beach and returned to their home on Northwest 8th Street in unincorporated Broward around 1 a.m. on Nov. 5.
Using Wanda Gordon's phone records, detectives learned that her cellphone had left their home around 4 a.m. and traveled west to a rural area near U.S. 27 at the Broward-Palm Beach County line, where it remained until 4:50 a.m.
Detectives also discovered that Ernest Gordon was in the area and had encountered a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer.
The FWC officer, who was working an off-duty security detail at a construction site, stopped Gordon, who had trash bags in the back of his pickup truck, officials said.
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The officer told Gordon that sometimes people come to the location and dump their garbage, then let him go after warning him about illegal dumping, but not before he took a picture of the trash bags in the back of the truck, officials said.
Phone data showed that after the encounter with the FWC officer, Ernest Gordon drove to a heavily wooded area in Tamarac, officials said.
On Dec. 2 and 3, investigators searched the wooded area and were able to find Wanda Gordon's phone and discovered skeletal remains and several pieces of clothing, officials said.
After Gordon was arrested at his girlfriend's home, he denied any involvement in his wife's disappearance and death, officials said.
Gordon was booked into jail, where he was being held without bond Wednesday, records showed. Attorney information wasn't available.
