(Halifax) — One of Southside’s most infamous missing persons case was cracked over the weekend.
A Halifax County man is charged with killing his wife who disappeared seven years ago. Investigators this weekend arrested 67-year-old Russell Wayne Layne (pictured) for the murder of his wife, Emma Compton Layne.
She was reported missing in June of 2017. She had been last seen closing up the convenience store she owned in the Cody community, not far from the Pittsylvania County line. She never showed up to a scheduled visit to see her mother in the hospital the following day.
Family members found her personnel effects behind her home. Authorities searched the house but found nothing.
Five months later, hunters found her body in some nearby woods. Evidence at the scene suggested someone had tried to bury the body. A subsequent autopsy did not establish an exact cause of death, but investigators say there was evidence she was “violently murdered.”
The NBC News magazine show “Dateline” featured the story in October-2017.
The Halifax County Sheriff’s Office worked with Virginia State Police and the Halifax County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office in the investigation.
Russell Layne is being held without bond in the Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority awaiting arraignment.
