Missing Indiana woman’s remains found in yard of man charged with two other murders

The remains of Stephanie Marie Kirk, 35, were found in the yard of William Clyde Gibson, 54, who has also been charged with the murders of two other women.

A coroner said preliminary autopsy results showed Kirk died of strangulation, according to the Associated Press. The autopsy did not reveal how long she had been dead. Kirk went missing March 25 when she left a friend's home in New Albany, Indiana, to meet a man at a bar.

Kirk's body was found late Friday evening in Gibson's backyard by authorities, said The Courier-Journal of Louisville. They brought in a backhoe and set up a tent, and were still working at Gibson’s home on Saturday.

Charges have not yet been filed against Gibson, but he already faces two murder charges, reported the Courier-Journal. Gibson has been charged in the murders of Clarksville resident Christine Whitis, 75, who was also found strangled in his home on April 19, and Karen Hodella, 44, a hairdresser whose body washed up from the Ohio River in Clarksville in January 2003.

Kirk's grandmother, Betty Kirk, told NBC station WAVE of Louisville she was "relieved in a way" that her granddaughter had been found. 

"Knowing that she's not tied up in a room somewhere held prisoner, or whatever. Now, she's in heaven with her mother."

More from GlobalPost: Kelli Bordeaux: Search for missing Fort Bragg soldier continues