NC BEHEADING CRIME SCENE: "AS BAD AS IT GETS"

DECAPITATED

HUGHES

 COPS IN North Carolina have arrested the boyfriend of a missing woman whose mangled decapitated was discovered Wednesday. Detectives arrested David Earle Hughes in the slaying of Patricia Swaim, 49, and have charged him with first-degree murder.
Davie County Sheriff Andy Davie described the crime scene as being "As bad as it gets."

"You don't become immune. You never will become immune to it. You just can't become immune to a case like this," Stokes said.

Swaim's body was discovered about a half-mile from her home after cops executed a search warrant at her property. Investigators found tire tracks near the home that led them to a brush pile where the body was found. A neighbor said Swaim--who had disappeared in the past--and Hughes had been together for years and cops had attended the home in the past.

 "I just can't believe he could have done it, but we don't know what goes on behind closed doors," David Johnson said. "A lot of people just can't believe something like this could happen in the neighborhood."

Hughes was given a $750,000 bail. He's being held in the Davie County Jail.