It’s been almost five weeks since William J. “B.J.” Snyder, 34, reported his wife missing.

Yesterday, B.J. was charged with killing Kelley Jo Snyder in the couple’s home at 243 Fourth St., Renovo.

The cause of death – manual strangulation – according to the autopsy report.

B.J. Snyder has been charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, false reports, abuse of a corpse and two counts of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

Trooper John Maggs filed the charges Thursday morning. The defendant was arraigned before District Magisterial Judge Frank Mills of Renovo via video from the county jail.

The charges stem from an interview by Cpl. Christopher Rankey and Trooper Kimberly Patterson on April 11 and the autopsy report which states that Kelley Jo died of manual strangulation.

According to the arrest affidavit, the defendant told police in the April 11 interview that he and Kelley Jo were involved in a verbal argument at their home on Easter Sunday, April 5.

B.J. said that Kelley Jo threw what he believed to be a can of hair spray at him, but missed him. He said Kelley Jo then took a swing at him and hit him in the chest area. Then, he said, he grabbed Kelley Jo by the arms and got behind her before falling to the ground, police said.

At this time, the defendant said his arms were around her neck as he was behind her. The defendant said he then left Kelley Jo up and she tried to hit him again. He said he grabbed her again and that they were on the ground as he was on top of her straddling her. He stated that his hands were around her neck and that she stopped moving, police said.

B.J. said he thought she had just stopped fighting but he then realized that she was not breathing. He said he took her to the basement where he placed her in a sleeping bag before taking her out his basement steps to his 2010 Mitsubishi Outlander. The defendant said he drove the victim to a pull-off at Halls Run where he took her out of the vehicle, police said.

The defendant said he dragged Kelley Jo by her feet down over an embankment and that her feet were touching the water at Halls Run. He said he then threw the victim’s driver’s license into Halls Run and left the area. He said he went to Sockey’s Restaurant and threw the sleeping bag into the Dumpster behind the restaurant, police said.

During a previous interview with police on April 10, B.J. told police a different story about how she died.

In that interview, he said that he found Kelley Jo unresponsive after she took Hydrocodone and nerve pills. He said he shook her and rolled her onto her side, but she did not have a pulse and she had foam coming out of her mouth, police said.

He told police he tried to revive the victim without hurting her… and that he didn’t want the victim’s reputation tarnished as a result of the overdose so he took her to the basement and covered her with a sleeping bag, knowing that she was deceased, police said.

The defendant said he took her outside to his Outlander using the basement stairs that lead to the outside of the house and then drove to the pull-off at Halls Run State Park where he took her out of the sleeping bag and placed her over the embankment. He said her feet were touching the water, police said.

He drew a map explaining where he dumped his wife, police said. Her body was found in that area the next day.

B.J. Snyder remains in the Clinton County Correctional Facility without bail on the murder charges.

He has been at the county prison for over a month. He was charged on April 11 with abuse of a corpse and two counts of tampering with evidence, and bail was set at $500,000 at that time.

It was that day that he admitted to police that he took his wife’s body from the residence and left it in the remote area where she was found. He also admitted to fabricating a ransom note that was found on the mailbox at the couple’s home and to sending himself an email from the would-be kidnappers. Bail was set at $500,000 on those charges and he was remanded to the county jail.

B.J. called state police at Lamar at about midnight on Easter Sunday, telling them that his wife had left home for the nearby Dollar General Store at about 6 p.m. to buy a can of sweet potatoes for Easter dinner and never returned.

A massive search began the following day as the community came out in force to look for the mother of three. Hundreds of people, with dogs, boats, 4-wheel drive vehicles and on foot, scoured the area around Renovo and searched the Susquehanna River.