A former naval officer has been arrested and charged with the gruesome murder of his writer wife, whose dismembered remains were found scattered in the Georgia woods.

Nicholas James Kassotis, 40, was arrested Friday on charges including murder and assault in the death of Mindi Kassotis, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said in a statement. Press release.

He was detained a day after she was officially identified using DNA technology, authorities said. Her remains were found in December within a 3-mile radius in the woods of a hunting club in Riceboro, about 40 miles southwest of Savannah.

The GBI received assistance in the investigation from the FBI, who performed genealogy tests on the remains. Swabs were obtained from Mindi Kassotis’s family members to ultimately identify her, authorities said.

Kassotis, who also goes by Nicholas Killian James Stark, was detained in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he awaits extradition to Georgia.

In addition, he is charged with malicious murder, tampering with evidence and removal of body parts from the scene of death or dismemberment, the GBI said in a press release.

The GBI previously said tests determined the remains were placed in the area around November 27.

For months, her identity was a mystery, and police released a composite sketch in hopes of identifying her.

It took about six months for her to be finally identified.

Authorities have not revealed a motive in the brutal murder. No documents have yet been filed in the Georgia courts.

Mindi Kassotis was 40 years old and was living in Savannah with her husband at the time of her death, the GBI said.

Mindi and Nicholas Kassotis married in Virginia in 2016, according to the couple’s wedding announcement on the sentinel keene.

The wedding announcement described her as a writer and business owner and he as a former judge’s attorney in the US Navy Judge Advocate General Corps.

Kassotis was commissioned in June 2006 and separated from the Navy in August 2019. He most recently served in the Navy Reserve in the Regional Office of Legal Services in the Naval District Washington, D.C., from 2017 to 2019, the Navy said.

Kassotis is scheduled to appear in Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas for an extradition waiver hearing on Friday. It is not immediately clear if she has an attorney.