Michigan man charged with murder and dismemberment of a janitor he met on a dating app

BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a Michigan man with killing and dismembering a janitor he met on the dating app Grindr.

Justie Stilwell, a 41-year-old janitor at TL Handy Middle School in Bay City, was reported missing on Sept. 18. That same day, a teenager discovered a foot in the Saginaw River. Police then found Stilwell's arms and lower legs in the water.

According to court documents obtained by MLive.com, investigators obtained surveillance footage from Stilwell's neighbors that showed Stilwell driving away from his Bay City home on the evening of Sept. 14. Investigators used data from Grindr to determine that Stilwell had gone to meet a Grindr user with the username “Bored.”

They tracked Bored's location to 40-year-old Robert Tweedly's Bay City home. Tweedly told investigators that Stilwell came to his home and pushed Stilwell down the basement stairs after Stilwell tried to leave, according to the documents. He then strangled Stilwell, he told investigators, according to the documents.

The body was too heavy to carry upstairs, so he cut it apart, he told investigators. He threw his legs and arms into the river and placed his head and torso in a nature reserve. According to court documents, police recovered the body parts there.

Tweedly was charged Sept. 27 with murder and mutilation of a corpse. His attorney, James Piazza, told MLive.com that he had met with Tweedly but was still waiting for prosecutors to present evidence and had no comment on the case.