Jury selection in the second-degree murder trial of Charles Anthony Maddox Jr., 46, is scheduled to start next Tuesday in Scott County District Court in Shakopee.

Maddox is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his 46-year-old wife, Shakopee Valley News reporter Ruth Anne Maddox.

The body of Ruth Anne Maddox, 45, was found by police in the garage of her Prior Lake town home in the early-morning hours of Nov. 12, 2008, when authorities executed a search warrant after co-workers reported her missing on Nov. 11. The regional coroner ruled that she was a homicide victim who died of blunt-force injuries to her neck and head.

If convicted, Charles Maddox faces a maximum of 40 years in prison.

Ruth Anne Maddox was last seen covering a Shakopee School Board meeting the evening of Nov. 10, 2008. Authorities believe she was killed late that night, or early the next morning.

Ruth Anne’s supervisor at work received a text message from her phone at about 9 a.m. Nov. 11 stating that she had a doctor’s appointment and would be late for work, according to the complaint. When Ruth Anne Maddox didn’t show up to work, answer her phone or return messages left throughout the day, her co-workers requested that police check her well-being at her home at about 3:35 p.m.

Her co-workers told police it was uncharacteristic for Ruth Anne to contact them by text message, the complaint stated. Co-workers also told police it was very unusual for her to miss a news deadline, said the complaint.

The complaint also said that Ruth Anne Maddox had expressed concerns for her safety since filing for divorce from her husband, which was soon to be finalized.

While checking on the well-being of Ruth Anne Maddox, police made three visits to the Maddox home and subsequently had two conversations with her husband, who wouldn’t allow police into the house, declined to give officers any financial information that may have assisted them in locating her and refused to sign a missing person report on behalf of his wife, the complaint states.

Authorities then contacted several of Ruth Anne Maddox’s friends and family members who told police they were unable to contact her on Nov. 11, as their phone calls went straight to voicemail and were never returned.

According to the complaint, police also learned that Maddox recently sent Ruth Anne’s daughter text messages that stated he would never allow Ruth Anne to leave him.

Police obtained a search warrant and entered the Maddox home at 3:17 a.m. Nov. 12, when her husband stated without being questioned, “I might as well save you the trouble; you will find Ruth Anne’s body in the garage,” the complaint states. Maddox went on to tell police that Ruth Anne came at him with a screwdriver and a knife during a fight at the home the previous evening when he put his knee on her arm that held the knife and choked her.

Police found Ruth Anne’s body in the garage of the town house wrapped in a tent and covered with a blanket.

According to the complaint, after killing his wife, police believe Maddox purchased a piece of pilot luggage, spackle and a spackle knife from Sears at about noon on Nov. 11. He then went to Walgreens in Bloomington before driving Ruth Anne’s car to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport dressed as a female, where he parked it and left a note stating “she” was “leaving,” according to a search warrant that details video surveillance obtained by police in the case. Authorities allege Maddox then got on the light-rail train back to the Mall of America, where he caught a bus to the park-and-ride in Savage.

Maddox posted $1 million bail on May 8 and was released from jail.

Jury selection is set to start Tuesday.

Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at 952-345-6374 or shogendorf@swpub.com.