Karen Cleary

The victim, 79-year-old Karen Cleary, was found dead Saturday morning at her home in the first block of Salisbury Court. Authorities indicated in court papers that Cleary had been dead for days. She last contacted someone in an email on March 17. Police went to her villa on Salisbury Court about 11 a.m. Saturday after a neighbor asked for a wellness check. The neighbor hadn’t seen Cleary for about two weeks, police said. Cleary’s son, Adam A. Christoph, 54, was arrested in Moab, Utah, according to the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis. On Monday, prosecutors in St. Charles County charged Christoph with second-degree murder and armed criminal action. An autopsy will help determine how long Cleary had been dead. Salisbury Court is a cul-de-sac off of Flintshire Lane, north of Interstate 64. The street is lined by about 10 villas. One neighbor described Cleary as a private woman. When officers got to Cleary’s home, the door was locked so they used a key provided by a neighbor, police said. Officers found Cleary dead and a butcher knife was next to her body, court records said. Bloody footprints led from the kitchen to the basement, where the son’s bedroom is located, St. Charles County police Detective Kelsey Sykes said in court papers. They found bloody clothes and tennis shoes in his room and blood in his bathroom, Sykes added. Christoph was living at the home with his mother, said St. Charles County police Cpl. Barry Bayles, who is a spokesman for the squad. Authorities haven’t released a motive for the killing. Sykes, in court papers, said Christoph does not have a job. Receipts from his mother’s home show a March 19 withdrawal for a bank account she shared with her son. Nearby surveillance footage showed Christoph at his home on the afternoon of March 19, police said. License-plate readers detected a car Cleary and her son shared leaving the state. They last recorded its plate in Utah on March 25. Christoph was found in a motel room in Moab after apparently trying to kill himself.