‘Controlling’ husband, 28, pleads guilty to suffocating his wife, 28, with a plastic bag

A husband who suffocated his wife with a plastic bag before dumping her body in a crawl space in their Minnesota home has pleaded guilty to her murder.  

Joshua David Fury, 28, faces 38 years in prison after strangling Maria Pew at the end of April. He had reported her missing on April 30; her body was found two days later in a crawlspace and Fury was charged with second-degree murder. 

Police found the preliminary cause of death to be asphyxiation from a plastic bag taped over her head and nose.  Fury was arrested and at first gave multiple statements, trying to blame on one of her former boyfriends for her death. 

But he eventually confessed that he killed Maria by strangling her at their Maple Grove home and putting the plastic bag over her head, police said. 

Fury later police he planned to use duct tape roll he used to wrap her body to hang missing posters for her.   

Investigator interviews with Maria’s family, friends and mother found that the couple was having marital problems and Fury was ‘controlling and possessive’. 

Fury reported Maria Pew missing on Thursday April 30; her body was found two days later in a crawlspace and Fury was charged with second-degree murder

Joshua David Fury, 28, faces 38 years in prison after strangling Maria Pew at the end of April. He had reported her missing on Thursday April 30; her body was found two days later in a crawlspace and Fury was charged with second-degree murder

Fury admitted strangling her during an argument about her leaving him. He said he ‘placed both hands around her neck and squeezed until he felt a snap’, the charges said. Maria was found with trauma to her neck, but it was not broken. 

When he found Maria was still breathing he put a plastic bag over her head and nose until she stopped.

He said once she was dead he ‘wrapped her arms in duct tape, carried her body to the crawl space, dug a hole, placed her body in the hole, filled it up, covered and chalked plastic over the space then cleaned up the surrounded area and himself before going to work.’

Joshua told authorities it only took two hours to kill her and bury her body.

Investigator interviews with Maria's family, friends and mother found that the couple was having marital problems and Fury was 'controlling and possessive'

Investigator interviews with Maria’s family, friends and mother found that the couple was having marital problems and Fury was ‘controlling and possessive’ 

Fury eventually confessed that he killed Maria by strangling her at their Maple Grove home

Fury eventually confessed that he killed Maria by strangling her at their Maple Grove home

Police were dispatched to the couple’s Maple Grove home on the 11000 block of Red Fox Drive after Joshua claimed Maria had vanished and they found her cellphone inside.

A two-day large-scale search was launched with teams on the ground and searching by helicopter.

Police served a search warrant on May 2 at the couple’s Maple Grove home where sniffer dogs detected human remains in a crawl space that was no more than four feet tall and had a dirt floor in the basement. 

A second search warrant allowed police to dig in the crawl space and her body was found about a day later in the middle of the night after hours of digging.

Police found the preliminary cause of death to be asphyxiation from a plastic bag taped over her head and nose.

Maria’s parents, Bill Pew and Lissa Weimelt, said their adoptive daughter’s husband was controlling and that the two married after an intense and fast moving relationship. 

The heartbroken parents said that they believe the couple staying at their home during the coronavirus outbreak was not safe for their daughter. 

Maria's parents, Bill Pew and Lissa Weimelt have started a domestic abuse nonprofit, called 'Maria's Voice', to help victims in their daughter's memory

Maria’s parents, Bill Pew and Lissa Weimelt have started a domestic abuse nonprofit, called ‘Maria’s Voice’, to help victims in their daughter’s memory

The grieving mom says adopting Maria was like winning the 'parenting jackpot'

The grieving mom says adopting Maria was like winning the ‘parenting jackpot’

‘You know that was not a safe place to be,’ her mother Lissa Weimelt says. ‘It further isolated her.’  

She added: ‘The things that I am faulting myself for now. ”Run, my God, run!” Why didn’t I say that?’

The grieving mom says adopting Maria was like winning the ‘parenting jackpot.’ The parents recalled their daughter enjoying an active lifestyle, riding snow mobiles,  horses and four-wheelers. 

Maria also had been a cheerleader, says her dad, who described her as ‘always smiling.’ 

They have started a domestic abuse nonprofit, called ‘Maria’s Voice’, to help victims in their daughter’s memory.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk