LOS GATOS — A man has been jailed and charged with murder after he apparently confessed to strangling his wife with a rope and dumping her body in the Santa Cruz Mountains, according to authorities and court documents.
John Maxey Yeager, 56, has been charged with one count of murder and a count of felony false imprisonment in connection with his wife’s death, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday, one day shy of Yeager’s 57th birthday.
Yeager was being held without bail in the Santa Clara County Main Jail, and was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon, according to jail and court records. The victim’s name has not been publicly released pending formal identification by the county Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office.
According to a probable cause affidavit from Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police, the victim was reported missing Jan. 8 by a co-worker who had not heard from her or seen her come to work in the new year. The co-worker told police that her husband, Yeager, “had provided an unusual explanation for her absence,” but that reason was not included in court documents filed this week.
A missing-persons investigation was launched, and officers obtained home-security video from a neighbor of the couple’s Hershner Court home, the affidavit states.
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In footage from about 9:35 p.m. the night of Dec. 31, the victim could be seen running out of her home and yelling for help, with Yeager chasing and catching up to her, according to police. The two went out of view of the neighbor’s security camera, and reappeared with the victim walking away from Yeager, who then grabbed her by her shoulders.
The affidavit states that the video showed Yeager physically guiding her back to their home, with the victim repeatedly asking Yeager if he was “taking me back so you can beat me to death?” Yeager is later seen physically blocking the victim’s path to a parked car, followed by both people going back inside.
Jail records show that Yeager was arrested and booked into jail on Jan. 11. Two days later, the affidavit states that during a police interview Yeager “admitted to strangling his wife” to death with a rope the night of Dec. 31, “and then disposing of her body in the Santa Cruz Mountains.”
Additional details about the death, including a specific time when the victim’s body was recovered, have not been released. But the Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office confirmed that on Jan. 14, they received custody of a body that matches the circumstances of the case.
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