Christopher Astin Motry: Michigan man charged with the murder of his GF who was reported missing for days
This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
FLINT, MICHIGAN: A Michigan man is facing murder charges after a fisherman discovered the lifeless body of his girlfriend with her toes sticking out of a bag near a river, authorities said.
According to Flint City Police officers, the victim was identified as Christina Elizabeth Barber, 48, and her body was found near the Flint River in Michigan on March 4, Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said at a press conference.
Authorities, who were already investigating Barber’s disappearance, later arrested her boyfriend Christopher Astin Motry, 34, in connection with her death, Leyton said at the conference which was broadcasted by FOX 66 and NBC 25.
Christopher Astin Motry faces several charges
Motry, who is married to another woman, has been charged with first-degree premeditated murder, domestic violence, evidence tampering, and concealing a death, online court records show.
Leyton said that on March 2, a co-worker of Barber requested a welfare check because she had not been answering her phone or been to work in a week. Local police responded to a motel in Flint the next day where they found several bloodied items in a room that was rented by Barber.
What did the authorities find during investigation?
At the scene, police recovered a “comforter laying on the ground soaked in what appeared to be blood” outside the motel room, Leyton said. Inside the motel room, police found a bloodstained mattress with cat litter on it and on the floor. There were also bloodstained sheets next to the bed and bloodstains on the floor and the wall, according to police.
Police found Barber's body on March 4 after a 911 call was made by a person about to go fishing, Leyton said. The witness found a black garbage bag with “what appeared to be toes from a person sticking out of the bag,” Leyton said.
Genesee police reviewed security footage from the motel
Leyton said that Genesee police reviewed security footage from the motel during their investigation and saw Barber and Motry entering the motel room on February 28. The next evening Motry was allegedly seen coming out of the room with “what appeared to be a body in a plastic bag in a fireman’s carry and puts it into the bed of his truck,” Leyton said.
“You never see Ms Barber again,” Leyton said, as per People.
A GoFundMe has been set up by Christina Elizabeth Barber's daughter
A GoFundMe has been set up by Barber's daughter to help the family with funeral expenses. Barber was unmarried and had seven adult children. Co-workers told investigators that Barber and Motry were in a “difficult, tumultuous” relationship that she was trying to leave. They also claimed Motry had threatened to murder her several times.
Motry was arraigned on Friday, March 15, and is being held without bond, court records show. He has been assigned a public defender who was not named in court records.
