SHAKOPEE, Minn. (AP) — The wife and adult son of a Twin Cities area man who disappeared in 2013 have now been charged in his death.
Sixty-two-year-old Connie Herbst and 26-year-old Austin Herbst were arrested Thursday near their New Prague home in the death of Gary Herbst. A dog found his skull south of Barron, Wisconsin in December 2017 and brought it home to its owner. Barron County sheriff’s deputies found Herbst’s skeletal remains soon after.
Scott County Attorney Ron Hocevar tells the Star Tribunethe son admitted Thursday to fatally shooting his father because he was abusive to him and his mother.
Prosecutors allege Gary Herbst was killed in the family’s home in Elko New Market in July 2013. Hocevar said the body remained in the home until mid-August when the mother and son hauled it out after dark and dumped it in the woods in western Wisconsin.
Hocevar said that he suspects the son threw the gun into a lake east of Butternut, Wisconsin, where his parents were married.
Authorities finally identified the skeletal remains last June and began gathering evidence that led to charges against the wife and son.
It was not immediately clear if they have hired an attorney.
