ROSS TOWNSHIP -- Michael Horvath is behind bars, charged with criminal homicide, tampering with evidence and abuse of corpse, accused of the death of Holly Grim, a woman who disappeared from Lehigh County three years ago.
His arrest comes after state police spent days of digging and searching his home and property in Ross Township last month.
Now investigators say several bones belonging to Grim were found buried in Horvath`s backyard.
Grim’s family released a statement through a spokesperson shortly after Horvath`s arrest was announced.
“They just appreciate all the people reaching out to them and appreciate all the prayers and support,” said spokesperson Jim Wilkins.
Investigators say Grim vanished from her mobile home near Allentown on November 22nd 2013.
During that time, court documents show that Grim and Horvath were coworkers at the nearby Allen Organ Company.
The day Grim went missing, Horvath was late for work; when questioned he blamed a flat tire.
However, in 2014 his DNA was found inside Grim`s trailer.
Then last month, that search was executed at Horvath's home.
Along with finding Grim’s bones, investigators say they found numerous disturbing items inside his house.
Court papers say items recovered were:
Video tapes and DVD`s on murder, sexual deviance and “hunting humans”.
- Sex toys, pornographic magazines and videos that were kept in a fanny pack.
- Hand cuffs, leg shackles and other restraining devices.
- Weapons, including several stun guns.
- And a planner with handwritten notes suggesting the writer might be watching, following and or/ stalking someone.
Police are still looking for a motive and more testing is being done to determine how Grim died.
“We kept coming back to Mr. Horvath,” said Lt. Joseph Sokolowski. “Different people were ruled out but we were never able to do that with Mr. Horvath and it was just the natural culmination of the evidence we found along the way."
Horvath is locked up at the Monroe County Prison.
He has a preliminary arraignment on October 24th.
