Mount Laurel man indicted in wife's slaying

Kyle Crosby, the 28-year-old Mount Laurel man accused of killing his 26-year-old wife and dumping her body in a Maryland field, was indicted Tuesday on charges of murder.

Robert D. Bernardi, Burlington County prosecutor, announced that a grand jury indicted Crosby on charges of murder, desecrating human remains, hindering apprehension and endangering the welfare of a child.

Crosby's wife, Erica Crippen - the mother of his 3-month-old daughter as well as a 7-year-old daughter from a previous relationship - had been missing since New Year's Eve.

On the same day Crosby filed a missing person report, Jan. 10, the oldest child wasn't picked up at school. The school requested a wellness check, and after a visit to Crosby's home police decided to charge the 28-year-old with endangering the welfare of the child in their mother's absence and issued a warrant for his arrest.

Following a traffic stop and foot chase in Camden County on Jan. 13, Crosby was also charged in his wife's murder.

Police analysis of GPS data backtracked his whereabouts to rural Maryland.

Following coordinates, police found Crippen's body wrapped in a fleece blanket and buried under a pile of branches and limbs on March 17 in a group of pine trees in a rural field of Sykesville, Maryland. Her hands and feet were bound with a cord that also wrapped around her neck, police said. Her mouth and nose were duct-taped shut, police said.

Police claim Crosby killed Crippen on Dec. 31 and drove her body to Maryland on Jan. 8. Coroners determined Crippen died of asphyxiation.

Crosby's 67-year-old mother, Jo, of Sicklerville, was also indicted for allegedly helping her son to conseal his wife's death. She was charged with hindering apprehension and tampering with or fabricating evidence.

Arraignments are pending.

Kyle Crosby will continue to be held in Burlington County Jail on $1.2 million bail.

Jo Crosby is free on $12,500 bail.