A Florida bodybuilder and former Marine has been accused of murdering his ex-wife when she visited him to get some of her belongings and then burning her body in an oil drum in the backyard.
Ian Christopher Baunach, 43, appeared in court in Tampa Monday and pleaded not guilty to killing Katie Baunach, the 39-year-old mother of his two children.
In November 2021, Baunach, a former Marine who was retrained to become an engineer, was arrested on charges of domestic battery by strangulation and was released the same day on $25,000 bail.
Ten months later, in September of that year, Katie Baunach issued a restraining order against him, accusing him of molesting one of her children.
She was last seen on September 29 leaving the two youths with a friend and said Baunach said she could come over “to get some of her personal belongings”.
She told the friend she would be right back but never returned.
Ian Baunach, 43, is accused of killing his ex-wife Katie, 39, on September 29
Baunach, a former Marine, was a dedicated bodybuilder
Police were called and went to his home in LaBelle, 30 miles inland from Fort Myers, on September 30 only to find he was not home.
Her car was parked outside.
When they returned shortly after, they saw the car had been moved and obtained a search warrant – after Baunach refused to let them in.
Inside the house, detectives found evidence of a fight and bloodstains, which he claimed were from food.
Katie Baunach’s engagement ring and wedding band were found in a safe.
According to the complaint, officers also found an AR-15 top receiver and 13 silencers in the safe, as well as a .40 caliber Model 27 Glock pistol in a plastic bag on a bookshelf.
There were three rifles and a shotgun in an attic above the garage, and Baunach had another .40 caliber Glock with him.
Outside, officers found human remains.
Katie Baunach told friends she briefly went to her ex’s house to get some things but never returned
Police found weapons, silencers and human remains in Baunach’s house
According to court documents, “they discovered the fragment of a human lower jaw with an intact tooth in a fresh burn pile and discovered a 50-gallon blue drum near the burn pile that smelled of decaying flesh.
“Inside the 50-gallon blue drum, law enforcement discovered another human bone fragment. Police uncovered other suspected human bone fragments around the area of the burn.”
Baunach denied killing his ex-wife, telling them there was no body and that she had disappeared.
He admitted to getting into an argument with her that was “about another woman.”
Baunach “admitted to being angry that Katie Baunach sought and received a domestic violence restraining order.”
He claimed he went to sleep and when he woke up in the morning she was gone.
He said he then drove her car into the street.
“When asked about the blood found on the premises, Baunach stated that he did not believe the officers.”
Baunach was taken into custody and charged with first degree first degree murder; Destruction/obfuscation of physical evidence and cremation of a corpse 48 hours after death.
If convicted of first-degree murder, he faces life imprisonment or the death penalty.