Brian Estep murdered his wife, Amber Renee Estep, deputies said. His truck was found burning hours after investigators spoke to him, authorities said. (Images: Brevard County Sheriff’s Office)
Detectives determined that a husband lied when he claimed that he last saw his wife alive as she stormed out of their vehicle in the middle of a highway, according to deputies in Brevard County, Florida. Instead, authorities believe that Brian Estep murdered his wife Amber Renee Estep, 39, and dumped her body. Sheriff Wayne Ivey called the defendant’s alibi “fabricated.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, Amber Estep disappeared, and after she missed several work shifts, her mother contacted authorities on Jan. 19.
Investigators said they spoke to the victim’s husband, Brian Estep. During the interview, Brian Estep allegedly told detectives that he had last seen his wife on the afternoon of Jan. 16. The husband said he and his wife got into an argument after leaving a medical appointment in Merritt Island, and he claimed that he dropped her off on the side of Interstate 95, just north of State Road 50 “after she requested to be let out of the vehicle.”
Brian Estep claimed that he had accused his wife of having affairs with multiple men, according to Ivey in the arrest announcement on Thursday. Purportedly, Amber demanded he let her out of the vehicle even though they were going northbound on I-95.
Defendant Estep allegedly said he let her out on mile marker 215, and that she took her phone and purse. He claimed that he did not reach out to her for several days because he wanted to give her space, Ivey said.
But authorities said that several hours after they spoke to him, his truck was found engulfed in flames in the community of Port St. John.
Amber Estep was separately found dead on the afternoon of Jan. 20, when a property owner discovered her just off State Road 46 near Pit Bull Lane, authorities said.
Using the result of multiple research warrants, investigators found evidence that “completely contradicted” the defendant’s story of leaving his wife on the side of the road, Ivey said.
Authorities claim that Brian Estep drove his wife’s body around north Brevard and south Volusia Counties before discarding the body. Since the time of the murder, the defendant moved to West Virginia, where authorities arrested him Thursday, Ivey said. He is awaiting extradition to Florida for first-degree murder with a firearm and tampering with evidence relating to a capital felony.
More Law&Crime coverage: Florida man who told police his wife drowned in tub convicted of beating, strangling her after fight over home renovations
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
