NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have charged two people with first-degree murder in the death of a Des Moines man whose body was found by officers in the back of a vehicle earlier this summer. Television station KCCI reports that 50-year-old Jeffery Lee Stendrup, of Clive, and 24-year-old Jaycie Sheeder, of Coon Rapids, were charged Wednesday in the death of 36-year-old Jeremy McDowell.

McDowell was found dead June 22 in Newton the back of a vehicle Sheeder had been driving. Sheeder had called police that day to say McDowell had been assaulted and needed medical attention. She drove to Newton to meet police, who found McDowell dead in her back seat.

Authorities believe Stendrup suspected McDowell of stealing items from him and beat McDowell with a baseball bat in an effort to get the items back.