Police confirmed Wednesday that a body found in Allegan County, Michigan, is that of missing woman Theresa Lockhart.
Theresa’s body was found in what police describe as a “shallow grave” about 50 miles from her home, where she was last seen.
In a press conference, Director of Public Safety for the City of Portage, Nick Armold, said authorities found a note left by Theresa’s husband after he allegedly committed suicide in the couple’s home. The note contained not only a confession to Theresa’s murder, but also a hand-drawn map to the location of her body.
RELATED: Chris Lockhart Found Dead in Home Five Months After Wife Theresa Lockhart Disappears
“While I’m not going to go into the details of the note, Chris did state that on the night of May 18, that he killed Theresa and that the next day he disposed of her body in the Allegan Game Area,” Director Armold said.
According to the note, as described by Director Armold, Chris and Theresa were having an argument on the night he says he killed her and he “just snapped.” Director Armold said Chris “did express remorse and ask for forgiveness” in the note he left behind.
Police say autopsies were performed Wednesday on both Chris and Theresa.
“It will be some time before we have any results as to the cause of death of Theresa,” Director Armold continued, but the “initial determination as to the cause of death of Chris is listed as suicide by strangulation.”
Chris was considered a person of interest in Theresa’s disappearance shortly after she disappeared.
“He was not answering the questions, not providing us with any information,” Senior Deputy Chief Blue of the Portage Police Division told Dateline. “It was pretty evident he didn’t want to cooperate, from the get-go.”
“[Through the investigation], not once had he contacted our agency asking about any updates on the investigation,” Director Armold said in Wednesday’s press conference. “And to our knowledge, not once had he orchestrated, conducted or participated in any searches for Theresa.”
In a Facebook post Wednesday night, Theresa's sister Joan Mullowney wrote: "My heart is breaking that a special life has been taken away but we now have closure as to what and when. Chris did one good deed before he died and that was to tell us where we could find Theresa."
Theresa had been missing since May 18 of this year. She was recently featured in Dateline’s Missing in America series.
