Authorities have charged a man in connection with a body that was found buried in a large plastic container in Massillon on Friday morning.
Investigators have charged 26-year-old Carl A. Spencer with the murder of Nick Stein.
Court records identify Stein as the man buried behind a home on 8th Street SW in Massillon.
Police said the man was found inside a container that had been buried about six feet underground.
Court records identify Nick Stein as murder victim buried behind a home in Massillon. Police have arrested 26-year Carl Spencer for the murder. He is due in court this morning. @WEWS pic.twitter.com/AtrPY1nzzo
— Bob Jones WEWS (@bobjonesTV) February 5, 2018
Relatives of Stein — a man who was reported missing last year — feared the remains belong to him.
His family told News 5 he lived at the house for a few months with a man and a woman but disappeared last February.
Police records show Massillon officers went to the house on Feb. 9 of last year in reference to the missing persons report, but Stein was not there.
According to court records, authorities got a warrant to search the home after a woman went to the Massillon Police Department on Jan. 30 of this year and told police that she thought something happened to Stein in the 8th Street SW house a year ago.
She said she believes that after she went to sleep one night, Spencer assaulted Stein and threw him down the basement steps, killing him.
The woman said that the day after Stein disappeared, Spencer "was adamant about removing the basement steps and replacing them with new ones."
She said Spencer tore out the basement steps and buried them in the backyard.
On Jan. 31, a Massillon officer received a call that Spencer had rented an excavator from a local company. The officer called local companies and, according to court records, confirmed that he rented a Kubota U17 excavator from a company on Feb. 2 at 2:04 p.m. and returned it the same day at 5:06 p.m.
Spencer is being held on a $5 million bond at the Stark County Jail.
