Mom found dead in culvert and wrapped in bed sheet, Florida cops say. Two charged
A body found wrapped in a bed sheet lying in the box culvert of a Florida creek has been identified as a 29-year-old mother, Florida deputies said.
On Sept. 24, the body of a young woman was spotted in Calhoun County, according to a news release from the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman was lying face down under a box culvert in a creek off a small road, deputies said.
Her body was also “shrouded” in a bed sheet covering her head and torso, with her left arm and legs exposed, according to the sheriff’s office.
State investigators used a tattoo catalog system to identify her as 29-year-old Brittney Jordana Dykes.
Dykes was living with Charles Matthew Gable, 35, in Altha, deputies said.
Her family told investigators they had been trying to get in contact with Dykes beginning on Sept. 23 after she and Gable had an argument, the sheriff’s office said.
Dykes’ 3-year-old son was staying with her former babysitter in Grand Ridge, deputies said.
Gable told the babysitter he was coming to drop off some clothes and toys for the boy, and the babysitter called deputies to alert them to his location, according to the release.
Gable was taken into custody and denied being involved in Dykes’ death, deputies said. Investigators then searched his vehicle and phone.
Deputies took Gable back home, according to the release, until they received a call from his family the next day.
Relatives told investigators Gable reached out to them and confessed to killing Dykes and was threatening to harm himself, according to the sheriff’s office.
Gable was taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder.
A second man, whose relationship to Gable or Dykes was not released, but identified as Christopher Edward Vickery, 36, was charged with accessory after the fact to second-degree murder and taken into custody.
Vickery told investigators he did not remember the events of the night due to alcohol-induced insomnia, according to the release.
Calhoun County is about 70 miles west of Tallahassee.
This story was originally published September 28, 2023 at 1:43 PM with the headline "Mom found dead in culvert and wrapped in bed sheet, Florida cops say. Two charged."
