Snow plow driver, wife charged in teacher's death

A snow plow driver and his wife have been charged in connection with the strangling of a Vermont prep school teacher, whose 2-year-old son was found in his mother's idling SUV on a back road, police said Wednesday.

Allen Prue, 30, and his wife Patricia Prue, 33, of Waterford are facing 2nd degree murder charges and charges of improperly disposing of a body in connection with the killing of Melissa Jenkins.

The Prues, who were arrested early Wednesday, are due in Vermont Superior Court later in the day. The two are being held without bail.

Police did not offer a motive for the killing.

"They knew Miss Jenkins and had snow plowed her driveway a couple of years ago," Vermont State Police Major Ed Ledo said Wednesday at a news conference where he announced the arrests. He did not take questions.

The names of the suspects were first reported by The Caledonian Record newspaper.

Ledo credited the FBI and other agencies for their help in the investigation, which is continuing.

Jenkins was a 33-year-old St. Johnsbury Academy science teacher. She was reported missing late Sunday night after her toddler was found alone in the idling SUV. Jenkins' body was found Monday alongside a road in the town of Barnet, about 10 miles from where Jenkins' car was found.

The death of the well-loved teacher at the school once attended by former President Calvin Coolidge shocked people in the town of 6,200 in northeastern Vermont about 40 miles south of the Canadian border.