Affidavit shows Plano man charged in wife's disappearance was also child sex abuse suspect
COLLIN COUNTY (CBSNewsTexas.com) — Before Karlton Dudley's wife Sarah was found dead at Lake Lewisville, he was awaiting a grand jury decision on whether to indict him for the aggravated sexual assault of a child.
Dudley, who was charged Wednesday with Abuse of Corpse, was the subject of an investigation last year by the Frisco Police Department.
In an arrest affidavit only now being made public, a Frisco detective wrote Dudley would see a friend's daughter—who was under the age of 14—approximately twice a week. He would reportedly take her to do things, bring her to his apartment, and even have her stay overnight.
According to the affidavit, it wasn't until the girl's mother discovered "suggestive and inappropriate" anime photos on her tablet that Dudley sent over the Discord messaging app that she suspected he was grooming her.
However, her husband "assured her she was just being paranoid."
The mother alleged Dudley "continued overstepping his boundaries with her family" and told police the family cut all ties with him after they discovered he'd begun communicating with their daughter through Gmail after her Discord app had been blocked.
When a dispute erupted over the ownership of a truck, the affidavit states, Dudley sent the couple a text message saying "he would consider it retaliation if they accuse him of something."
That message prompted the girl's mother to ask her daughter if Dudley ever touched her private parts. And, according to the affidavit, the girl responded, "yes," and later made "an outcry of sexual abuse" in a forensic interview.
Dudley denied having any sexual contact with the girl, but admitted to sending her anime photos he thought looked like her, the affidavit stated. He was then arrested and released on bond 10 days later, wearing a GPS monitor.
That monitor was still around his ankle this past Saturday, when Plano police say Dudley was in the water at Lake Lewisville.
Dudley told officers he was there to go kayaking, but police records show he was in the same area of the lake where his wife's body was found just two days later on Monday.
He initially reported her missing Saturday evening after she never showed up for work at the RA Sushi restaurant in The Shops at Legacy.
Police said they discovered her body had been stuffed into a black duffel bag matching the description of one Dudley had reported missing from his apartment.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner positively identified the body as Sarah Dudley, but has yet to determine how exactly she died.
For now, Dudley is charged only for the crime of disturbing and/or carrying away her body. Should her manner of death be ruled a homicide, Plano police will be looking at filing far more serious charges.
