Human remains found in stove belonging pregnant TV chef murder suspect

Human remains have been found in a wood stove belonging to a man suspected of murdering TV cooking show contestent Cristie Schoen Codd, her husband and their unborn child, authorities in North Carolina said.

Robert Jason Owens was arrested charged with the murder of Cristie Schoen Codd and her husband, Joseph Codd, as well as their unborn child, after a witness reported seeing him dumping large rubbish bags containing the Codds' belongings after the couple went missing, reports AP.

Owens' wife told detectives that he had admitted running over Mr Codd, 45, with the victim's pickup truck, a search warrant revealed.

"He did admit to taking the bodies, storing them on his property and destroying them," Buncombe Sheriff Van Duncan said of the 36-year-old suspect.

Duncan said that the couple were likely to have been killed three days before they were reported missing, but said that police were not prepared to publicly discuss what motive Owens might have had for murdering the couple.

Warrants released by Duncan show that police took 11 knives and saw blades, as well as "debris from wood stove" and "debris from yard", from two of the suspect's homes near Asheville.

Christie Codd had worked as a movie set caterer and was a finalist in Food Network Star during its eighth season.