Shari Tobyne

Name

Shari Tobyne

Background

Shari Tobyne was the wife of Dwight Tobyne and had been married to him for 35 years. The Tobynes grew up on adjacent farms outside Clifton, Kan. They moved to the Phoenix area in 2004.

Scottsdale police said Dwight Tobyne was in the process of divorcing Shari in November 2009. Police said Shari Tobyne shot and killed Dwight Tobyne the day before Dwight was scheduled to move out of their home on Mountain View Road. Afterward, police said Shari Tobyne stored his body at home for a while, then chopped up his body and dropped off his remains in three counties: Maricopa, Pinal, and La Paz.

One of the couple’s three adult children reported Dwight Tobyne missing on July 21, 2010. Police said Dwight Tobyne had been with his wife for Thanksgiving, but had missed Christmas with the family and the birth of a grandchild.

The offence

Police said Dwight Tobyne was killed sometime between Nov. 24 and 28. Police said Shari Tobyne shot and killed him inside their Scottsdale home and then dismembered him with a saw-type tool before dumping his body parts in desert areas in Maricopa, La Paz, and Pinal counties.

Scottsdale police spokesman Officer David Pubins said the day before Dwight was scheduled to move out, Shari Tobyne shot and killed him. Police said Shari Tobyne told detectives she planned to commit suicide, Dwight tried to stop her, and the gun fired accidentally. She told investigators she disposed of the body because she thought no one would believe her.

Shari Tobyne was booked and charged with first-degree murder alleging premeditation. She was also charged with abandoning a human body.

Investigation

Scottsdale police announced that remains found in December in three locations had been identified using DNA tests as belonging to Dwight Tobyne.

DNA samples from Dwight Tobyne’s parents helped police identify human remains found in three Arizona counties as that of the victim. The investigation connected remains through DNA matching and networking between medical examiner offices.

Police said the remains were found during the same week in late December by outdoor enthusiasts:

• On Dec. 20, someone found human remains off U.S. 60 south of Florence Junction in Pinal County and notified the local sheriff’s office. The remains were sent to the Pinal County Medical Examiner’s Office.
• On Dec. 23, someone else found remains off Interstate 10 near mile marker 53 in La Paz County, about 50 miles from the California border. The remains were taken to the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office in Tucson, where through networking, that office learned of the remains found in Pinal County.
• On Dec. 26, a motorist on the Beeline Highway near the Sugarloaf exit saw what appeared to be partial human remains. The remains were turned over to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office, which was aware of the remains in Tucson.

After the family DNA samples were used for analysis, police retrieved a sample of the remains from Tucson and were able to positively identify them as Tobyne’s on Sept. 30.

Lt. Bruce Ciolli, who supervised Scottsdale police’s Crimes Against Persons Section, said not all of Dwight Tobyne’s body had been found.

After Dwight Tobyne was reported missing, police placed Shari Tobyne under surveillance and uncovered physical evidence pointing to her as the one who shot her husband.

Police searched for the remains based on her directions during the investigation. Investigators could not find the exact location she directed officials to in the Tonto National Forest area off the Bush Highway.

Arrest

Scottsdale police arrested Shari Tobyne on Aug. 14, 2010. Police said she admitted accidentally shooting Dwight Tobyne in late November and she was arrested on a first-degree murder charge. She was held in the Maricopa County jail.

On Aug. 16, 2010, Officer David Pubins said Shari Tobyne, 53, was booked on single counts of first-degree murder and abandoning a human body and was being held in lieu of $500,000 cash-only bond.

Police said Shari Tobyne told her children that their father had gone to Mexico last November. Investigators tracked Dwight Tobyne’s cell phone in the Phoenix area in December, and police said they found his truck abandoned in an apartment parking lot after opening the investigation in July. Police also said surveillance observed her disposing of materials at a dumpster in Chandler, including a dismantled handgun and items of clothing, and that she spray-cleaned the trunk of her vehicle at another location in Mesa.

Cell phone records showed that phones belonging to Shari and Dwight were used in the same cell-tower areas between Nov. 24 and Dec. 25, indicating that the phones were together.

Trial

Shari Tobyne pleaded not guilty and was being held in the Maricopa County jail.

A mental competency examination was ordered. Shari Tobyne’s lawyer, Anne Phillips, filed a motion on Sept. 27 asking a judge to order her client to undergo a mental evaluation. Phillips wrote that she had difficulty communicating with her client during three visits and later learned she had a documented mental health history. Phillips declined to comment.

A judge granted the request. If Shari Tobyne was found incompetent, she may be sent to a mental facility until she could understand the charges and assist in her defense. Court hearings were suspended until the mental evaluation was complete.

Sentencing

Prosecutors initially sought the death penalty for Shari Tobyne.

After pleading guilty last week, Shari Tobyne was sentenced to life in prison, plus 31 extra years for related charges, on May 19, 2013.

Outcome

Scottsdale police connected remains found in three counties to Dwight Tobyne through DNA identification.

Some remains were still missing, and Lt. Bruce Ciolli said not all of Dwight Tobyne’s body had been found. As of Monday afternoon after the Aug. 16, 2010 arrest, Dwight Tobyne’s remains were still missing.

Other details

Scottsdale police said Shari Tobyne bought a handgun in early November and went to a gun club to learn how to shoot. Police said she practiced her shooting at a local gun club on Nov. 22.

Police said Shari Tobyne told investigators she bought a gun with the intention of killing herself and that Dwight Tobyne told her he wanted to separate. Police said Dwight had not filed for divorce.

Police said Shari Tobyne told detectives she walked into the master bedroom of the condominium they shared in the 8000 block of East Mountain View Road in Scottsdale. Police said she had a gun in her hand and was going to shoot herself when Dwight Tobyne attempted to grab the gun and the gun fired accidentally, hitting Dwight Tobyne in the head and killing him instantly.

Police said Shari Tobyne told detectives she did not report the incident out of fear that nobody would believe her. She said she wrapped Dwight Tobyne’s body in bedding and dragged him to the garage, where she wrapped him in a tarp. Later she placed Dwight Tobyne’s body in the back seat of her car and drove to the desert east of Phoenix, where she dumped the body. Police said she also admitted replacing the carpet in the master bedroom afterward.

Officer David Pubins said police contacted the owner of the condo on Mountain View, which was rented by the Tobynes, and were told that the carpet in the master bedroom had been replaced by the Tobynes and the garage smelled heavily of bleach when they moved out.

Before Scottsdale police became involved, police said the Arizona Department of Public Safety crime lab developed a DNA profile from the La Paz County remains. After this, the Pima County medical examiner determined that all of the found remains were from the same person.

On Friday, Officer David Pubins said: “They do have quite a bit of evidence that helps them come to that conclusion.”

Scottsdale police spokesman David Pubins said detectives learned that Dwight Tobyne planned to separate from his wife and move back to the Midwest in late November. Police said Dwight reserved a U-Haul trailer and planned to move to Oklahoma.