Arrests made after woman's body found in toolbox dumped in Vermont river

Two men were arrested Wednesday in connection with the February killing of a Vermont woman whose body was found in a container on a Missisquoi River sandbar in northern Vermont, state police said.

Aaron Camp, 34, of Derby, faces charges of unauthorized burial or removal of a body, and being an accessory after the fact to murder in the death of Kayla Wright, of Derby, Vermont State Police said. Terron "Josh" Pendleton, 34, of Waterbury, faces one count of being an accessory after the fact to murder, police said.

A judge on Wednesday also signed an arrest warrant for Jakiy Tramaine Corey Keith, 24, of Hartford, Connecticut, on charges of first-degree murder and unauthorized burial or removal of a body, state police said. He is in custody on federal drug charges and it's unclear when he will be arraigned, police said.

Both Camp and Pendleton invoked the 24-hour rule in court on Wednesday, delaying their arraignments until Thursday, according to the court. It was unclear whether they or Keith have attorneys. A message was left with the public defender's office.

Wright, 29, of Derby, died of a gunshot wound to the head, police said. Her body was found in a truck-bed-style toolbox on a sandbar in the Missisquoi River in Troy, according to an affidavit by a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations.

State police said Keith shot Wright three times inside a home in Troy early in the morning on Feb. 2 in a dispute related to drug trafficking, CBS affiliate WCAX-TV reported. Camp and Pendleton helped clean up the crime scene and helped Keith dispose of Wright's body, police said.

Wright's sister, Samantha Perkins, spoke to WCAX-TV in February after Wright's body was found.

"She was just... my person, my best friend. I love her and miss her," Perkins told the station. "I think we all kind of knew she was gone before she was actually found. The days going on and the days going on, and time is going on and I'm going to have a baby soon, too. Just her not being there and being a part of it kills me."

Perkins shared one of her last Facebook conversations with Wright, in which her sister apologized to her family for her struggle with addiction.

"She was always trying to be better and stay away from it for the most part. It's just too bad that she wasn't able to leave," Perkins told WCAX-TV. "She was going to be gone for a 90-day program. She was going to try to get into a sober living somewhere and I think that was her last go for it."

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• Vermont
• Murder