Man Strangled Girlfriend, Left Body in Closet: Police

Adam Plaeger had his girlfriend's name tattooed on his neck

Waterbury, Connecticut, police have arrested a man on murder charges after finding his girlfriend’s body in a bedroom closet.

Police responded to a residence on Plaza Avenue at 5 p.m. on Sunday after receiving reports of a foul odor coming from the second floor apartment. When they arrived, they found the body of 40-year-old Melanie Heuberger in a bedroom closet.

Police identified Heuberger’s live-in boyfriend, 38-year-old Adam Plaeger as a suspect.

The couple had gotten into a domestic dispute days earlier, according to police, and Plaeger is suspected of choking Heuberger to death.

The couple's roommates said Plaeger was sleeping in the bedroom when they came home Sunday from a weekend trip. They said the smell in the room was awful and now wonder if Heuberger would still be alive if they hadn't have gone away.

Police have have charged Plaeger with Heuberger's murder. He is being held on a $1 million bond.

Melanie Heuberger would have turned 41 on July 8. The mug shot of Plaeger includes a neck tattoo with the name Melanie in a banner in a flower.

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