US man charged for killing pregnant daughter, lived with corpse for days

A man in the US has been charged for killing his near five-month pregnant daughter, whose body was discovered from a crawl space below her basement apartment in Baychester, New York. William Caruth, allegedly killed his daughter over a financial feud.

Anndrea Caruth, 39, had gone missing on 3 January. Subsequently, her boyfriend informed the police the following day that she had not contacted him all through the day. Police, along with sniffer dogs raided her home on 6 January and discovered her partially buried body beneath the house.

Police said that Anndrea's body was found with a rope around her neck and torso. She was reportedly strangled, beaten on the head and stuffed in a crawl space beneath a closet.

They immediately apprehended her father, who had bite marks on both his hands and a cut on the bridge of his nose. Police also found a machete, a hammer and two buckets of gravel outside the house.

"The defendant is charged with murdering his 4 1/2-month pregnant daughter," assistant district attorney Gregory Desire said. "Additionally, the defendant is alleged to have hidden the body in a self-dug hole inside his residence," Desire said.

"She really fought for her life. [Anndrea] was the nicest person. I thought she was good ... this is a shocker," Valentina Caiazzo, the previous owner of the family's apartment, told the News.

Anndrea was due to find the sex of her unborn child on 7 January. Meanwhile, William has been held without bail at a Bronx Criminal Court arraignment. Between, 2001 and 2013, police visited the accused on five occasions relating to incidents of domestic violence.