Man Arrested, Accused In The Death Of North Carolina Woman Found In Edmond

A man is in jail after the body of a North Carolina woman was discovered Friday near an Edmond storage facility.

Elyse Betz's family reported her missing in June, but the family received the devastating call last week and learned she was found nearly 1,500 miles away from home.

A man she had only known for weeks is accused of killing her.

Just 30-years-old family members say Elyse Betz was incredibly accomplished and worked as an engineer. 

“She was an engineer, the first class of women engineers from her all-girls private college, she rode equestrian, she played field hockey,” said Elyse’s sister Laura Beckman.

Friday her body was discovered face down outside this storage facility near East 2nd Street and South Coltrane Road.

A court filing says her vehicle was discovered at a hotel less than a mile away, and inside her room, police located and arrested Kyle Fedus, a federal fugitive.

Investigators say he claimed to be her boyfriend, something Betz's sister Laura Beckman denies.

“I think she was manipulated into being kidnapped and he murdered her,” Beckman said.

Struggling their mother's death, Laura says Elyse sought treatment for alcohol, which is where she met Fedus.

“Unfortunately, he found an easy target to manipulate,” Beckman said. 

Once in custody, according to court filings, Fedus told police he and Elyse made a suicide pact while he was on the run, agreeing to take "a lethal dose of drugs to commit suicide," rather than going to jail.

Police say Fedus claimed the cocktail of meth and fentanyl only proved lethal for his alleged girlfriend.

“If you knew my sister was dead, and you were supposed to be dead then why did you leave her there? Why didn’t you call 911? And if you were supposed to kill yourself, then why didn’t you kill yourself?” said Beckman.

Her family is now vowing to get justice.

“I’m not letting him get out of prison over my dead body,” said Beckman.

Fedus was wanted on an unrelated federal warrant after violating the terms of his parole.

He previously pleaded guilty to a North Caroline robbery in 2018.