DNA samples from the parents of a Scottsdale man whose wife claimed she accidentally killed him helped police identify human remains found in three Arizona counties as that of the victim.

Police believe Dwight Tobyne, 57, was killed sometime between Nov. 24 and 28.

His wife, Shari Lee Tobyne, 54, was arrested Aug. 14, and has been charged with first-degree murder and abandoning a human body. She remains in custody in the Maricopa County Jail.

Police believe Shari Tobyne shot and killed her husband of 35 years and then dismembered him with a saw-type tool before dumping his body parts in desert areas in Maricopa, La Paz and Pinal counties.

The remains were found during the same week in late December by outdoor enthusiasts. On Dec. 20, someone found human remains off of U.S. 60 south of Florence Junction in Pinal County and notified the local sheriff's office. The remains were sent to the Pinal County Medical Examiner's Office, said Officer David Pubins, a Scottsdale police spokesman.

On Dec. 23, someone else found remains off of Interstate 10 near mile marker 53 in La Paz County, about 50 miles from the California border, police said. The remains were taken to the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office in Tucson, where through networking, that office learned of the remains found in Pinal County.

On Dec. 26, a motorist on the Beeline Highway near the Sugarloaf exit saw what appeared to be partial human remains. They were turned over to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office, which was aware of the remains in Tucson.

Scottsdale police were not notified of Dwight Tobyne's disappearance until the following summer.

On July 21, one of Tobyne's three adult children contacted the department to report him missing. Tobyne reportedly had been with his wife for Thanksgiving, but had missed Christmas with his family and the birth of a grandchild, police said.

Before Scottsdale police became involved, the Arizona Department of Public Safety crime lab developed a DNA profile from the La Paz County remains. After this, the Pima County medical examiner determined that all of the found remains were from the same person, Pubins said.

As part of its investigation, Scottsdale investigators took mouth swab samples from his parents who live in Kansas for DNA analysis.

They then retrieved a sample of the remains from Tucson and were able to positively identify them as Tobyne's on Sept. 30.

Out of respect for the Tobyne family, police declined to identify what parts of Tobyne's body were recovered. Lt. Bruce Ciolli, who supervises Scottsdale police's Crimes Against Persons Section, said not all of Tobyne's body has been found.

After Dwight Tobyne was reported missing to police, his wife was placed under surveillance.

Ciolli said police uncovered physical evidence pointing to Shari Tobyne as the one who shot her husband.

She told investigators she accidentally shot him while inside their Scottsdale home in late November with a 9 mm pistol, which she had purchased on Nov. 8.

She told police she had plans to take her own life because her husband had recently told her he wanted to separate. He had not filed for divorce, Ciolli said.

Shari Tobyne told police she disposed of his body in the Bush Highway area because she did not think anyone would believe her story. Police searched the area but did not find the man's remains.

Detectives found Dwight Tobyne's Ford pickup parked at an apartment complex in Phoenix. The keys were locked inside and the truck battery was dead.

Shari Tobyne told her children that their father had left her and was possibly living in Mexico.

Scottsdale woman confesses to killing husband, dumping body

By Beth Duckett - The Arizona Republic

August 16, 2010

The wife of a Scottsdale man missing since late November has confessed to killing her husband and dumping his body in the desert east of Phoenix, where it has yet to be found, officials said Monday.

Scottsdale police arrested Shari Tobyne, 53, on Saturday after police said she admitted to accidentally shooting her husband, 57-year-old Dwight Tobyne, last year.

She was booked on single counts of first-degree murder and abandoning a human body, said Scottsdale police spokesman Officer David Pubins at a news conference Monday.

The Tobynes have three adult children who reported their father missing on July 21, Pubins said. Shari Tobyne told them their father went to Mexico last November as the couple was about to go through a separation after 35 years of marriage.

"During that time, he missed Christmas with the family and the birth of a grandchild, so this began our investigation," Pubins said.

According to police, Shari Tobyne bought a handgun last fall and practiced her shooting at a local gun club on Nov. 22.

Tobyne told investigators she bought a gun with the intention of killing herself. After offering multiple versions of how the shooting took place, Tobyne ultimately told police during an Aug. 14 interview that she accidentally shot her husband during an attempted suicide.

On the night of the alleged shooting, which police said occurred between Nov. 24 and 28, Tobyne said she walked into the master bedroom of the condominium the couple shared in the 8000 block of East Mountain View Road. She had a gun in her hand and was going to shoot herself when Dwight Tobyne, who was lying on the bed, attempted to grab the gun and accidentally triggered it, she told police.

The bullet hit Dwight Tobyne in the head, killing him instantly, Tobyne said. She told police she did not report the incident out of fear that nobody would believe her.

Instead, Tobyne said, she wrapped her husband's body in bedding and dragged him to the garage, where she again wrapped him in tarp. Later, Tobyne said she placed her husband's body in the backseat of her car and drove to an unknown location east of Phoenix, where she dumped the body.

She also admitted replacing the carpet in the master bedroom afterward, police said.

During the recent investigation, Tobyne confessed to killing her husband but maintained it was an accident. She agreed to help find the body, police said, and after the interview, she directed officials to an area off the Bush Highway in the Tonto National Forest. Investigators could not find the exact location.

Dwight Tobyne's remains were still missing as of Monday afternoon.

"However, detectives are attempting to gather information to help narrow down the search location," Pubins said.

Police made the arrest after conducting surveillance on Tobyne, during which they observed her disposing of materials at a dumpster in Chandler that included a dismantled handgun and items of clothing, and spray cleaning the trunk of her vehicle at another location in Mesa.

Detectives also found Dwight Tobyne's Ford pickup abandoned in an apartment complex parking lot near 30th Street and Shea Boulevard. Shari Tobyne later admitted to driving it there, according to police.

Cell phone records showed that the same cell-tower areas were used by phones belonging to Shari and Dwight between Nov. 24 and Dec. 25, indicating that the phones were together, police said.