Remains of murder victim Gillibrand found by deer hunter thanks to media coverage

Kinga Gillibrand
Kinga Gillibrand

UPDATE: A few weeks ago, Maries County Sheriff Chris Heitman asked deer hunters to be on the lookout for anything that could lead authorities to the body of a Meta area woman who is believed to have been killed by her boyfriend.

That request paid off, Tuesday.

At 9:21 a.m. a hunter called the sheriff's office in Vienna to report finding human remains which Heitman said he is "99.9% sure" are those of Kinga Gillibrand.

The remains were located off Maries County Road 215.

"It's a mile-and-a-half from the home that she and Terry Fritz shared," he said.

Fritz, 40, is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action for allegedly shooting Gillbrand, 35, on or around June 8.

"We recovered a lot more evidence at this scene," Heitman said. "I believe it will show she died by a gun shot wound and there was evidence she was shot more than one time."

The hunter who found the remains says they were covered in bloody bedding.

The remains are being sent to Dr. Russell Deidiker, a forensic pathologist in Farmington who testfied in Fritz's preliminary hearing in September.

At that hearing, Deidiker testified that the amount of blood found in the bedroom of the home that Fritz and Gillibrand shared, along with the lack of a blood trail from that room, led him to conclude that she was killed in that room and the case is a homicide.

Investigators also found a bullet in the bedroom.

Heitman said the remains found Tuesday were on property that Fritz had access to and his family had taken care.

"Our earlier searches were about 50 yards from where her remains were found," he said. "We covered as much as we could in those searches and we had 100's of people helping."

Heitman said Fritz still has not made any statement to authorities about this case. Fritz is still being held on a $500,000 bond in the Maries County Jail.