Man Arrested on Suspicion of Killing Wife in Texas

Los Angeles police interviews with a Dallas man led to the discovery Wednesday of his wife’s decomposing body in Texas, authorities said Wednesday.

The husband, Scott Behling, 38, had been arrested Tuesday in the parking lot of the Town House Motel at 6957 N. Sepulveda Blvd. in Van Nuys, police said.

The decomposed body of his wife, Carolyn, who Texas authorities said appeared to have been shot, was found in a wooded area near the landscaping company in Dallas where the husband once worked.

The parents of two daughters, the Behlings celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary last month, said Dallas Police Lt. Ron Waldrop. The couple were reported missing June 28 after they were last seen as Behling picked up his wife at her job at a doctor’s office and then allegedly drove her to the landscape company, where her body was discovered.

Scott Behling was familiar with the grounds of the landscaping company, Waldrop said.

Behling was being held Wednesday at Parker Center Jail, pending extradition to Dallas where he will face murder charges, police said.

Lt. Harvie Eubank said that Behling, in an interview with investigators, had arrived in Los Angeles about two or three days ago and that he planned to find a job in the San Fernando Valley, which he visited about 10 years ago.

In Van Nuys Tuesday, police grew suspicious after spotting a red 1993 Chevrolet Corsica--with a broken passenger side window and missing license plates--parked in the motel’s lot, Eubank said. Officers used police computers to check the vehicle identification number of the rental car, which came back reported stolen from Texas.

Eubank said officers staked out the lot and subsequently arrested Behling, who was wanted by Dallas police on suspicion of killing his wife.