FL Bodybuilder Charged After Ex-Wife's Remains Found In Burn Pile

HENDRY COUNTY, FL — A Florida bodybuilder and former Marine is charged with murder after authorities say they found his ex-wife's remains in a fresh burn pile and barrel in his backyard, according to police and reports citing court documents.

Ian Banauch, 43, of Ft. Denaud, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the death of 39-year-old Katie Banauch, the Hendry County Sheriff's Office announced this week. Ian Banauch, a bodybuilder and former Marine, according to TMZ Sports, was also charged with 13 counts of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription after police found steroids in his home.

Ian Banauch was charged after police found human remains in his backyard, including "the fragments of a human mandible with an intact tooth in a fresh burn pile" and an additional human bone fragment in a 50-gallon barrel near the pile, according to an NBC News report citing the criminal complaint. The remains were later identified as Katie Banauch.

Katie Banauch was reported missing by a friend on the morning of Sept. 30. According to police, the friend told authorities that Katie Banauch had left her two children in her care to go to her former husband's home to retrieve some personal belongings. Friends and family had not heard from her and were unable to reach her on her cell phone, the friend told police.

After authorities were unable to contact either of them, police obtained a warrant to search Ian Banauch's home.

During the first search, police found "a large number of steroids" within the home. Ian Banauch was arrested and charged after admitting the drugs belonged to him, according to police.

Authorities found Katie Banauch's remains on Oct. 1 during a second search of the home.

Police also found evidence of blood in Ian Banauch's car and inside his home after applying a chemical that glows when it reacts to blood, court documents said. Authorities also found signs of a physical struggle in a hallway, noting wall damage and a broken wall-mounted mirror.

Authorities treated Ian Baunach's car in the garage by applying luminol — a chemical that reacts to blood by glowing blood — and found the interior of the truck "glowed blue" after treatment, court documents said.

Authorities also found several weapons in the attic above Ian Banauch's garage, including an AR-15 rifle upper receiver, 13 silencers of various configurations, two Glock pistols, three rifles, and a shotgun.

According to NBC News, Katie Banauch had filed an injunction for domestic violence against Ian Banauch before her death. Katie Banauch reportedly told police that Ian Banauch had abused one of her children and filed the injunction on the child's behalf.

Carolyn McKinney, Katie Baunach's mother, told WHAS in Louisville, Kentucky, that her daughter met Ian Baunach on Christian Mingle. He convinced her to leave her hometown of New Albany, Indiana, to live with him in Florida.

"[He] cut her off from all friends and family, he would watch her phone, watch her iPad and bad things would happen if she ever tried to contact anybody," McKinney told the news station.

McKinney is raising money to help pay for legal fees and raising Katie's two children.

In addition to first-degree murder, Ian Banauch is charged with destructing/concealing physical evidence, use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony, cremating a dead body 48 hours after death, and failure to report a death to a medical examiner.

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