Louisa sheriff: Woman admits to burying husband

AMELIA — Authorities Friday exhumed what they believe are the remains of a man whose wife has admitted she buried him in their backyard in Amelia County 15 years ago, police said.

Ulisa Mary Chavers, 60, already faces charges in the disposal of another body, that of her boyfriend, Reginal Cody Bowles. His remains were found last month at the bottom of a 33-foot-deep well in Louisa County.

Authorities began searching for the remains of Chavers’ husband, Clent Chavers, in the backyard of the couple’s former home in the 17000 block of West Pridesville Road in Amelia about 1 p.m. They worked until shortly before 9 p.m., digging less than 2 feet into an area about 100 square feet. A funeral-home employee then took the remains to turn over to the state medical examiner’s office, said Amelia Sheriff Rick Walker.

The dig also yielded a pair of eyeglasses and evidence the body may have been wrapped in a bedsheet, another law enforcement officer at the scene said.

The search began after a police cadaver dog pointed out an area of the yard and indicated human remains were buried there.

Authorities believe Clent Chavers died in spring 1994 when he was 68. Amelia officials have no record of his death or a missing-person report.

Mary Chavers, as she was known in Amelia, was charged March 7 in the Louisa case.

Authorities became suspicious about her husband’s death, and while questioning her Thursday, she broke down in tears and told investigators she dug a hole outside the house in Amelia, rolled the body out in the man’s wheelchair, dumped the body and buried it, Louisa Sheriff Ashland Fortune said.

Mary Chavers told authorities her husband died of natural causes, and she told the couple’s daughter that her father had been cremated and his remains shipped to relatives out of state, Louisa sheriff’s Lt. Howard Porter said. Meanwhile, she told her husband’s relatives he had been cremated and buried in Amelia, Porter said.

Authorities say Mary Chavers was cashing her husband’s Social Security checks from the time he went missing in 1994 until this year, for a total of more than $100,000. She also had been cashing Bowles’ checks after he disappeared in Louisa, authorities say.

In Amelia, she and her husband had rented the small, one-story house on rural West Pridesville Road for about a year, said Sandra Drinkard, who owns the property. Drinkard said Mary Chavers had told her that her husband was in poor health and used a wheelchair.

Drinkard said Mary Chavers told her at one point that her husband had died of health problems.

In Amelia, Chavers worked as a cook at Buddy’s Restaurant for about a year, owner Chris Tsigaridas said. Her specialties included meringue pies and Louisiana-style casseroles, he said. “She was pretty good in the kitchen.“

Before that, she had worked at a truck stop in the area, Tsigaridas said. Later, she moved to Louisa.

On March 6, authorities discovered Bowles’ body at the bottom of the unused well at his and Mary Chavers’ home in the 100 block of Garretts Mill Road in Mineral. He would have turned 55 in December. Authorities believe he had been missing at least two years.

Mary Chavers is charged in Louisa with concealing Bowles’ body, credit-card fraud, identity theft and possession of a sawed-off rifle. She has not been charged in Amelia.

Authorities started looking into Bowles’ disappearance late last year after a son in Florida reported that he hadn’t seen or heard from his father in three years.

Mary Chavers told investigators Bowles had gone to Sturgis, S.D., and joined up with members of a motorcycle gang and a militia, according to court papers.

Reed Williams is a staff writer for The Richmond Times-Dispatch.