Body found in duffel bag believed to be missing Arizona woman, man accused of murder

A body was found inside a duffel bag at an Arizona storage facility and authorities believe they are the remains of a woman who was reported missing.

On May 12, the out-of-state son of Debra Childers, 64, reported his mother missing to the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office. The son said he had not heard from her in several months, according to the Kingman Police Department.

An investigation was started and police said Childers primarily lived out of her car. Officers believe Brett Daniel Puett, 35, was withdrawing money from her bank account over the last several months.

After investigating the withdrawals last week, investigators said the person withdrawing money from her account was also driving her vehicle.

On May 28, officials searched two storage units that belonged to Childers and in one, they found a body concealed in a large duffel bag.

"(The body) appeared to have been inside the storage unit for several months," officials noted.

Officials believe the body is that of Childers and her family has been notified, but the medical examiner's office will confirm the victim's identity.

"Puett has admitted involvement in the killing and subsequent money withdrawals, as well as transporting and concealing her body," according to the Kingman Police Department.

According to detectives, Puett and Childers met last summer while both of them lived out of their vehicles.

Childers and Puett were thought to have been in a platonic relationship and "Childers was shot and killed sometime in November while Puett and Childers were sharing a room at a motel ... in Kingman," police detailed.

Police learned Puett was staying at a home in Kingman. He arrived at that home driving Childers’ vehicle.

Puett was arrested on May 28 and is being held at the Mohave County jail with bond set at $500,000.Puett faces a second-degree murder charge, as well as charges of abandonment and concealment of a dead body and fraudulent schemes and artifices.