A Missouri man has been found guilty of murder after brutally killing his girlfriend and disposing of her body in a wooded area. Authorities discovered her remains concealed under leaves and branches, following his report claiming she had gone missing and might have been abducted, according to prosecutors.

Aaron Malone, 24, was found guilty last week by a Jasper County jury of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, abandonment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the disappearance and death of his 24-year-old girlfriend Aspen Lewis in November 2024.

According to court records, Malone reported his girlfriend, Lewis, as missing and suggested to law enforcement that she might have been kidnapped.

“During the course of our investigation, we identified several discrepancies in Aaron’s account,” police noted in the probable cause affidavit that led to Malone’s arrest.

While questioning Malone about Lewis’s disappearance, investigators noticed a “significant blood stain on the roadway behind Aaron’s truck.” Bloodstains were also found on Malone’s vehicle, and the gravel driveway showed signs of disturbance, as detailed in the affidavit.

“Jewelry was discovered scattered on the ground,” the document reported. “Nearby surveillance footage captured Aaron’s truck arriving at the residence at about 11:35 p.m. on November 24, 2024. Shortly after, screams could be heard on the video recording.”

Surveillance video documented Malone’s truck departing from the home with him inside around 1:35 a.m. and returning at 4:10 a.m., shortly before he contacted police to report Lewis missing.

Police interviewed Malone and asked him about the blood and surveillance footage, to which he said he would take investigators to Lewis’ body, per the affidavit. As police pulled up to a rural location Malone had directed them to, they observed “the remains of a burnt pink” shirt in the roadway. Lewis was found “off the roadway” moments later.

“The victim had extensive head trauma,” the affidavit said. “In a post Miranda interview … Aaron Malone admitted to an altercation taking place and disposing of the body.”

During his trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing how Malone “repeatedly assaulted the victim in the face, strangled her, and shot her before leaving her body in the woods in Barry County,” according to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.

It took jurors about an hour to convict Malone after a three-day trial, per the AG’s office. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9.