BAY CITY, Michigan — On a summer afternoon in 2020, civilians made a horrifying discovery behind an abandoned building in northern Bay County — the burned body of a woman.

Investigators later determined that the body belonged to Heidi E. Dowd, a 36-year-old West Branch mother of five. An autopsy revealed that after Dowd was shot, her body was set on fire.

Nearly three years later, authorities charged a Bay City woman with murder in Dowd’s death and an incarcerated man with helping dispose of Dowd’s body.

Authorities issued arrest warrants for the two on December 7, 2022. By then, both suspects were imprisoned in different states.

A male defendant, 45, Aaron M. Wise, was transferred from the Michigan Department of Corrections prison to Bay County Jail on April 20 and appeared in Bay County District Court the next day to plead guilty to one count of removal. was asked. , mutilation, or dismembering a corpse. The charge is 10 years felony.

An accomplice, 43-year-old female Britany A. Letourneau, has been charged with public murder, removal, mutilation, or dismemberment of a corpse, as well as two felony firearm charges. Letourneau is also known by the surnames Lewis, Johnson, Tigner, and Raymo, and by her alternate names Marciea A. Fordyce, Marcia Ann Moses, and Marcia Reyes.

Dowd’s body was found on the afternoon of August 17, 2020 in a wooded area at 581 West Newman Road in Mount Forest Township. An owner unrelated to the murder found her body and called Bay County Sheriff Troy. R. Cunningham said.

Cunningham said Dowd had nothing to do with the property and had no suspicions. The sheriff declined to say why investigators tracked down his two suspects or what their motives were, but said the killings were not random.

According to Dowd’s death certificate, she sustained a single gunshot wound to the left parietal region of her head. A deformed bullet was recovered from her skull, the document said, adding that Dowd’s burns were inflicted after her death.

According to court records, Letourneau was living in Bay City at the time of Dowd’s death. Her and her Dowd’s Facebook accounts were linked as friends.

When the authorities issued a warrant, Letourneau was imprisoned Arizona State Penitentiary Complex Perryville-Santa Cruz Unit under the name Marcia A. Fordyce.

In March 2021, Letourneau/Fordyce appeared in Yavapai County Superior Court in Prescott, Arizona and pleaded guilty to possession of dangerous drugs by a prohibited person and possession of a weapon. Prosecutors have dismissed charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession or use of a weapon in a drug offense.

A judge in April 2021 sentenced Letourneau/Fordyce to two years in prison. During her imprisonment, Letourneau/Fordyce had three of her disciplinary offenses, two for failing to follow verbal or written orders and one for disrespecting staff.

The Arizona Department of Corrections placed Letourneau/Fordyce in community custody on March 21, 2023, but records show she remains in custody.

On April 18, the Bay County Commission unanimously approved a payment of approximately $3,106 to the Marshals Service to transfer Letourneau from Maricopa County Jail to Bay County.

Wise, on the other hand, Judgment handed down in May 2022 A judge in Ossego County, Michigan, convicted him of possession of methamphetamine and possession of a concealed weapon and sentenced him to two to five years’ imprisonment and three to 10 years’ imprisonment simultaneously.

Wise is imprisoned At the Ernest C. Brooks Correctional Facility in Muskegon Heights. His earliest possible release date is his September 26, 2024, and his maximum possible discharge date is his July 26, 2031.

Wise is next scheduled to appear at 11 a.m. on May 9 for a preliminary hearing, pending arraignment of Letourneau.

Dowd graduated from Harry S. Truman High School in Taylor.

“Heidi enjoyed spending time with family and friends, decorating for the holidays, reading books and listening to music,” her obituary stated.

She left her husband with five children and one stepchild. read more:

Women killed in Bay County were five stay-at-home moms

Police have identified a northern Migan woman whose burned body was found in Bay County

Burnt corpse of unidentified woman found in rural Bay County