Authorities Discover Buried Body on Private Property in Fruitland Township, MI … Might Be That of Missing Mother Bobbie Maples

Roosevelt Park Police believe that the body they discovered buried on private property might be that of Bobbie Maples. Upon a tip, the body was found on private property in Fruitland Township, Michigan Friday evening. Bobbie Maples went missing in December 2014, shortly after giving birth to daughter Airyonne. She was reported last seen near Whitehall by a friend.

According to Roosevelt Park Police Chief David Boone, the police have a prime suspect in Maples’ disappearance, who currently is incarcerated for an unrelated matter. As per Boone, the suspect is among several police have had over the past year, and has been on law enforcement’s radar since the beginning of the investigation into Maples’ disappearance.

Investigators have been lead by a tip to a buried body that could be that of Bobbie Maples, a mother first reported missing about a year ago.

Local officials discovered a buried body on private property in Fruitland Township Friday evening. Maples’ mother, Muriel, confirmed to WZZM 13 that authorities expressed confidence that the remains are linked to Bobbie.

Facebook: HelpFindBobbieMaples

Buried body found Friday could be woman missing for a year.

Local law enforcement authorities discovered, and left mostly undisturbed, the buried body on private property in rural Muskegon County early Friday evening, said Roosevelt Park Police Chief David Boone.

Police remained at the scene throughout the night awaiting the arrival of the Michigan State Police Crime Lab Saturday morning, which would complete the task of unearthing the remains, Boone said. He could not predict when a positive identity could be made because he did not know the condition of the body or what items may be with it.

UPDATE I: 1st to report Bobbie Maples missing was man now charged with sex-for-drugs life felony.

A man now charged with coercing a woman to have sex in exchange for drugs was the first person to report Bobbie Maples missing after she vanished, according to his lawyer.

Maples’ buried body was found Jan. 22 in Fruitland Township. She disappeared in December 2014 after leaving her Roosevelt Park home to visit her 11-day-old daughter who remained hospitalized followering her birth.

Robert Charles Smith III, 50, of Laketon Township, who was recently charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct during the commission of a felony, knew Maples and has been cooperating with police investigating her disappearance and now death, Smith’s attorney Marc E. Curtis said Tuesday.