PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A Philadelphia man was arrested after confessing to strangling his wife and leaving her body in a park, after she confronted him about infidelity.
On the morning of August 5, a dog walker discovered the body of 46-year-old Connie McClain-Murray in Northeast Philadelphia's Pennypack Park, raising concerns that a strangler was preying on the area.
But from day one, police say Christopher Murray was a suspect in his wife's murder.
"The reality was he became a suspect early on and remained a suspect until he confessed," Homicide Lt. Philip Riehl told the Philadelphia Daily News. "There was a lot of good police work that went into this."
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According to investigators, Connie and Christopher were having an ongoing dispute centered around her belief that Christopher was having an affair -- something he still denies. On August 4, Connie left their home to go for walk, but Christopher followed her in a car, pulling up alongside her and arguing in public.
The troubled spouses then went to a park bench to try to hash things out, but the argument apparently turned physical. According to Christopher, his wife began hitting him, causing the 48-year-old to snap.
Before confessing, Christopher thoroughly failed a lie detector test in which he denied involvement in the incident.
"After failing the lie detector test, Murray confessed to strangling his wife in the park next to the two benches where she was found ... Obviously, there's no celebration in this case, but perhaps the people that play and exercise in the area of Pennypack Park can have a sigh of relief because there is not a predator lurking in the area."
