An Arapahoe County grand jury in Colorado has indicted Jeffery Scott Beier for the murder of his girlfriend Charlene Voight, who disappeared from Littleton, Colorado in 2016, according to the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office.
Beier, 46, is in custody in Russia and is suspected of killing Charlene, according to the indictment. The indictment stated that Beier was in a relationship with Charlene and that she was living with him at the time of her disappearance. Her body has not been found.
Charlene, who was featured in Dateline NBC’s “Missing in America” series in 2016, was reported missing by her family on July 8, 2016. She was 36 at the time of her disappearance and last seen by witnesses on the night of June 30, 2016.
Her family previously told Dateline that the “always happy” Charlene had just moved to Littleton, Colorado from her family’s home in Southern California a month before her disappearance, after graduating from Cal Poly Pomona with a degree in Landscape Architecture. The move was, in part, to allow her to finally be with Beier, they said.
Charlene’s sister Marilyn told Dateline in 2016 that Charlene always had a knack for creativity. “She was excited to be in Colorado where it’s just so beautiful, and for the opportunities she’d have there.”
Shortly after Charlene’s disappearance, Beier was arrested on charges of sexual assault in an unrelated case against an unidentified woman. At the time, he was not named a person of interest or suspect in Charlene’s disappearance.
According to the indictment released on June 1, 2020, Beier has been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, sexual assault, two counts of tampering with evidence, third-degree assault and two counts of attempting to influence a public servant, by misleading authorities about Charlene’s disappearance.
Beier is also charged with aggravated animal cruelty. According to the affidavit, investigators believe Beier dumped several items at Tower Landfill in Commerce City, Colorado on July 2, 2016. An excavation by authorities in November 2016, revealed many personal items belonging to Charlene, including the body of a small dog wrapped in a red sweater believed to have belonged to Charlene’s missing Chihuahua, Toby. The dog had been decapitated. His head has not been located.
“Nobody should be able to walk away from murder,” District Attorney George Brauchler said in a statement. “I will do everything in my power to bring a perpetrator to justice. I am pleased that in the death of Charlene Voight, there is now a process in place to accomplish that.”
It is unclear when Beier will be returned to Colorado. No court dates will be scheduled until he is booked at the Arapahoe County Detention Center, according to the indictment.
If convicted, he faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
"I am proud to be able to tell the family of Miss Voight that the men and women of my department worked for four years to see this day," said Littleton Police Chief Doug Stephens in a statement. "My heart goes out to them, knowing that they are mourning the loss of their sister and daughter. I hope this arrest is a step that will help them move toward healing."
