Woman killed husband, ditched body near blueberry field

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Beverly McCallum was convicted of killing her husband Roberto Caraballo in the basement of a Michigan home in 2002. It took 13 years to ID his body and five more to catch her. (McCallum, Carabello: Eaton County Sheriff’s Office; Screenshot: WOOD/YouTube)

A jury in Michigan has convicted a woman who bludgeoned her husband with a hammer, suffocated him to death and then with the help of two others stuffed him in a footlocker, burned his body and left it near a blueberry field.

Beverly McCallum, 63, was found guilty of second-degree murder and disinterment and mutilation of a body in the 2002 death of 37-year-old Roberto Caraballo near Lansing.

Dubbed the “Jack in the Box case,” the murder baffled law enforcement for years with them unable to identify the body. It wasn’t until 2015 when one of McCallum’s children tipped off authorities to the true identity of the remains.

The next problem was finding McCallum, who authorities later learned was globe-trotting to countries such as Jamaica, Pakistan and Italy.

McCallum’s life on the run ended in 2020 when cops arrested her at a hotel outside Rome. She was extradited back to Michigan in 2022 to face charges.

According to the Lansing State Journal, prosecutors said McCallum wanted Caraballo dead because they were in an unhappy marriage. She, her daughter Dineane Ducharme, now 43, and Ducharme’s friend Christopher McMillan, now 45, apparently conspired to kill him. McMillan testified at the trial that McCallum pushed Caraballo down the stairs and Ducharme whacked him in the back of the head with a hammer. The plan, McMillan testified, was for him to finish the deed with a baseball bat, but when he swung he instead hit a pole, shattering it.

That’s when McCallum grabbed the hammer from her daughter and bludgeoned Caraballo to death, McMillan reportedly testified.

The trio then placed a plastic bag over his head and wrapped a rope around his neck until he stopped breathing, according to McMillan. They then put the body in a footlocker, drove to a remote blueberry field, doused it in gasoline and lit it ablaze, the LSJ reported. McCallum testified on her own behalf at the trial and pointed blame at her daughter and McMillan. She tried to say she didn’t hear Ducharme and McMillan kill her husband.

McCallum admitted to disposing of the body.

“It’s like a made-for-TV movie, is what it seemed like, especially as she took the stand and tried to give an explanation that didn’t make any sense at all,” Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd told the LSJ after the verdict.

Jurors just needed two hours to convict McCallum after a six-day trial, the outlet reported.

Ducharme and McMillan already were convicted. Ducharme was sentenced to life in prison while McMillan was sentenced to 15 to 40 years. A judge will sentence McCallum, who faces life in prison, on May 23.