Charges: Maple Grove man murdered wife and buried her in crawl space, then faked her disappearance

A Maple Grove man faked his wife's disappearance after he killed her and buried her in a crawl space under their home, according to charges.

Joshua D. Fury, 28, was charged Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court with one count of second-degree murder with intent in the killing of 28-year-old Maria Fury.

Maria Fury was planning to leave her husband, her mother told police.

"He said he strangled her during an argument about Victim leaving him," the charges said.

Maria Fury's reported disappearance led to a search involving a helicopter on April 30 and a large-scale search May 1.

Authorities using human recovery K-9s found her body Saturday.

According to the complaint: Joshua Fury called police to the couple's home in the 11000 block of Red Fox Drive about 6 p.m. April 30.

He told them he left for work about 11 or 11:30 a.m. and heard Maria telling her mother over the phone that she was going for a walk.

When he returned between 4:30 and 5 p.m., she was gone. He told police he drove along her walking route before calling police.

Police searched the area for two hours that night aided by a helicopter. A sweep of the couple's home revealed nothing unusual. An alert was issued to the nearby public.

A larger search was conducted May 1, including area lakes and woods. Friends and family told police that the couple were having marital problems, and that Joshua Fury was "controlling and possessive," the charges said.

Police obtained a search warrant to search the home and found Maria Fury's body about 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

Multiple officers used a system of buckets and tarps over hours to exhume her body, which had been buried in a 3- to 4-foot-tall lower-level crawl space with a dirt floor, the complaint said.

A full autopsy is pending but preliminary results showed that Maria Fury died of asphyxiation from a plastic bag that had been duct taped around her mouth and nose.

The items were still on her face when she was exhumed.

Joshua Fury had allegedly told police before his arrest that he did not harm Maria Fury. He blamed her ex-boyfriend.

After his arrest, Joshua Fury allegedly admitted to squeezing her neck and placing the bag over her face to stop her breathing. He admitted to burying her, according to the charges.

He allegedly told police he suffers from depression, previously threatened to kill himself if Maria left him and attempted suicide after the murder.

Joshua Fury is scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday. Prosecutors plan to seek $2 million bail.