Husband booked on murder charge in case of missing 28-year-old Missouri woman

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    ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo (KCTV) — While the search for a missing west St. Louis County woman continues, St. Louis County police said the incident has been re-classified to a homicide.

Wednesday night, officers were seen searching Jennifer Rothwell’s home along Northwinds Drive. Thursday morning, jail reports and public reports confirmed that Beau Rothwell, who lives at the same address, was taken into custody on a 24-hour hold.

Just before 9 a.m. Thursday, St. Louis County police said Jennifer Rothwell’s husband had been booked on charges of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. Officials said as of right now he has not been charged with a crime.

Police said Jennifer Rothwell, 28, was last seen Tuesday at her home. Her car, a Hyundai Sonata, was found in Creve Coeur about two miles away from her home. Her family said police found Rothwell’s cellphone in the car but her purse was gone.

She has no history of running off and is normally in contact with family members and friends on a daily basis, police said, but she hasn’t reached out to anyone since leaving her home.

Rothwell’s family is offering a $25,000 reward for any information that leads to her whereabouts.

Her mother, Robin von Hausen, said her daughter had just moved to West County with her husband. Rothwell works at DuPont as a chemical engineer.

“She works hard. People like her. She has a lot of friends at DuPont,” von Hausen said.

Von Hausen said it was one of her DuPont co-workers who tipped them off that something might have happened.

“A coworker texted and said, ‘Hey, how is Jennifer?’ They assumed she just hadn’t come into work because of the weather or whatnot. So, it wasn’t until late 6 or so in the evening before we even knew she hadn’t made it to work,” von Hausen said.

Beau Rothwell filed a police report Tuesday night and Wednesday posted to Facebook asking for help in the search.

According to Jennifer’s Facebook page, the couple was married in September of 2015.

Anyone with information about where Rothwell could be is asked to contact St. Louis County police or CrimeStoppers.

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