WYOMING, Mich. (WOOD) — The years-long search for the head of a Kent County murder victim is now over.
The Wyoming Department of Public Safety says a medical examiner positively identified a skull found in a wooded area in Alpine Township as that of Charles Oppeneer.
Oppenneer, 25, was murdered in Wyoming in 2014 along with his pregnant girlfriend, 18-year-old Brooke Slocum, who was eight months pregnant.
Investigators say the couple connected with Brady Oestrike on Craigslist and agreed to meet him at Gezon Park in a sex-for-money deal at 12 a.m. on July 13. It was there that Oestrike killed and beheaded Oppenneer before kidnapping Slocum, whom he held in his basement for several days.
Police discovered Oppenneer's decapitated body covered by sticks in the park on July 16, which quickly led them to Slocum's home in northeast Grand Rapids. Her roommate told police about the sex for cash ads, which led detectives to uncover the messages they linked to Oestrike on July 17.
Oestrike strangled Slocum that same day, her death certificate showed.
That evening, police were outside Oestrike's home on Taft Avenue SW, waiting to obtain a search warrant, when Oestrike drove away, leading to a chase. That chase ended when Oestrike crashed on the Burton Street bridge over US-131, where he shot himself in the head.
Officers found Slocum’s body in Oestrike’s trunk afterward. Slocum's unborn child, already named Audi, did not survive.
A farmer discovered Oppenneer's skull on March 24 in woods along Kenowa Avenue north of 6 Mile Road.
The medical examiner identified Oppenneer through dental records. The medical examiner said evidence indicates he likely died from a gunshot wound to the head before he was beheaded.