Charge filed in connection with woman's disappearance in Cape Girardeau County

One person has been charged in connection with the May murder of a woman.

Teresa L. Baumgartner

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Welker has charged Teresa L. Baumgartner with tampering with evidence in a felony investigation for her alleged role in the disappearance and homicide of Jessi Wilfong, 20, no fixed address.

Wilfong’s body was found by Cape Girardeau County sheriff’s deputies buried in a Cape Girardeau County barn June 18.

According to a probable-cause statement written by sheriff’s detective Jaime Holloway, Wilfong was reported missing by her mother May 25, and the investigation led to the issuance of a search warrant June 15 for the residence of Baumgartner and Lawrence P. Schanda in Millersvile.

Wilfong is Schanda’s niece and had spent the night of May 19 at the couple’s residence after the pair drove her from Fredericktown, Missouri, to Millersville.

Video surveillance from the area from that day shows Schanda and Wilfong leave in a truck and return at approximately 1:09 a.m. The two exit the vehicle, and Wilfong is not viewed alive again in the security footage.

According to the statement, on June 8, officers interviewed Schanda regarding Wilfong’s disappearance, and he told officers the two had gotten into a verbal altercation in the early morning hours of May 19. Schanda said he believed Wilfong was providing law enforcement with information implicating him in illegal drug activity. During the execution of the June 15 search warrant, investigators discovered portions of carpet had been removed from the living room and hallway, the statement says.

Information received by authorities led to the search of a barn structure on Baumgartner and Schanda’s premises. An auger was located on the property, which had been rented by Baumgartner on May 24, the statement says.

Autopsy findings determined Willfong’s cause of death was homicide.