Woman charged in husband’s death
A Bunnell woman was arrested in the shooting death of her husband who went missing three months ago, authorities said Tuesday.
Dorothy Calista Singer, 52, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 48-year-old Charles William “Butch” Singer, according to the Flagler County Sheriff ’s Office.
Singer was taken into custody Monday in St. Johns County after deputies said they received information that she planned to fake her own death and flee the state. She was transferred Tuesday and booked Jail.
Deputies searched the couple’s property April 7. They found his body wrapped in a comforter and camouflage tarp hidden underneath an overturned jon boat in the backyard, in addition to traces of blood in the master bedroom.
An autopsy found Charles Singer was shot four times in the head — there were three gunshot wounds on the top of his skull and another on his right temple — and once in the chest, likely with a .22-caliber handgun borrowed from her sister last year and returned a couple months ago, according to court documents.
The man was reported missing into the Flagler County March 23. His wife told deputies she kicked him out in January after a dispute. She had not seen or heard from him since, she said, but did not wish to report him missing.
The victim’s sister told investigators she grew concerned after not speaking to her brother since January. When she could not get in touch with him, she reached out in late February to Dorothy Singer, who provided conflicting explanations for where he was and why he could not be reached.
The victim’s employer told investigators he did not show up for work Feb. 8. Co-workers received a call from his wife the next day, who said he would not be returning to work. She said she kicked him out after a violent episode and that he was staying with his sister’s family.
After the missing-person report was filed, his sister and mother received text messages from his phone saying he was working in Kentucky while he sorted out his personal life. His sister said the messages contained typos that were strange, considering the legally blind man relied on talk-totext messaging.
Dorothy Singer told deputies her husband had his phone and bank cards with him when he left in January. But court documents said phone pings indicated his signal was coming from the cell tower near the couple’s home, where her phone also was linked.
Transaction records also showed she used her husband’s bank card to make a Wal-Mart purchase and a $400 cash-machine withdrawal in the weeks after he supposedly left. Hers, meanwhile, was used to pay for 409 Carpet Cleaner, Clorox Bleach, a camouflage tarp and moth balls in the same time frame.
Dorothy Singer also was married two other times, with one exhusband dying suddenly at 38 in Putnam County, according to WJXT TV-4. Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly said he has encouraged Putnam authorities to look into that case.