Search For Missing Mom Ends After 8-Year-Old Son Makes Admission To School Counselor

Judson Keith Hoover, 50, pleaded guilty to murdering his wife, 38-year-old Rebecca Ruth Hoover, shortly after being charged. Rebecca was last seen on August 2, and Judson filed for divorce the next day—while she was already dead. The case unraveled when the couple’s eight-year-old son told a school counselor he witnessed his father kill his mother. To spare the child from testifying, Judson pleaded guilty. Investigators found blood spatter in the basement, consistent with the boy’s account of his father stomping Rebecca’s head. Surveillance footage later showed Judson moving her body in a 55-gallon container between storage units. Rebecca’s remains were recovered, and Judson was taken into custody