Gene Scott Jr., left, faces a murder charge in the death of Renee Benedetti, whose body was found in an Ohio landfill on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. (Images from Columbus Division of Police)
A 46-year-old man faces a murder charge in the death of his girlfriend, whose body was found in an Ohio landfill after a search by authorities over two weeks.
Gene Scott Jr. is suspected of choking Renee Benedetti, 40, to death during an argument and throwing her body in a dumpster. Her body was found Wednesday at a landfill an hour east of Cincinnati, police said.
In a news conference, Columbus police Cmdr. Mark Denner said they first became aware of the case on Jan. 31 when the Cleveland Police Department contacted the Columbus Division of Police about a possible homicide involving Scott and Benedetti. The following day, Benedetti was reported missing by police and a few hours later investigators found Scott in Kentucky and extradited him to Columbus, Ohio.
Further investigation led police to a dumpster in southern Ohio and the Rumpke landfill in Georgetown, Ohio, where authorities began searching on Feb. 20.
Rumpke representatives started helping law enforcement after they were alerted that there might be a body at the site, a spokeswoman for the landfill told ABC Cincinnati affiliate WCPO9.
Police said the body was found on Wednesday.
“We’re glad that we have progressed this investigation to where we’re at, but this is just one step in the process,” Denner said. “We still have a long way to go. We have to make sure that we see this to the end.”
Scott allegedly told police he had been in a heated argument with Benedetti inside their apartment when he grabbed her by the throat and choked her until she was motionless on the floor, according to an ABC affiliate WSYX, citing an arrest report.
He “wrapped up Miss Benedetti’s body in a rug and later disposed of her body” in the landfill in Brown County.
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