An Arizona man is behind bars after he allegedly beat his wife to death with a baseball bat and drove 100 miles with her body in the back seat.

Brandon Gregory, 56, is facing charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter, tampering with physical evidence and concealment of a dead body in the death of his 41-year-old wife, Alison Gregory, the Surprise Police Department said in a press release. The investigation began on May 14 when the alleged victim was supposed to pick up a family member from the airport but failed to show. Family members relayed to cops that the Gregorys were going through a “difficult divorce.”

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Officers searched the Gregory home where they “observed signs that a physical struggle could have taken place.” They began searching for the couple’s vehicles. They found Brandon Gregory in Mohave County in the town of Wikieup, some 100 miles away from Surprise. His wife’s body was in the back seat, police said.

Cops took the suspect into custody. He allegedly admitted to killing his wife.

Citing court documents, CBS affiliate KPHO reported the suspect said their home was in the process of being sold and his wife told him to leave. This sparked an argument that turned physical, the complaint reportedly said. He claimed she kicked him in the groin while holding a wooden baseball bat, cops wrote. He then reportedly claimed that he wrestled the bat away from her and she began running around the house screaming. That’s when he allegedly hit her several times with the bat. He reportedly cleaned up the blood on the walls before driving his car to a nearby parking lot.

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After taking an Uber home, he put his wife’s body in her SUV and drove away, according to cops. He ditched her phone and Apple Watch at a gas station, the complaint reportedly said. The defendant then went to a campground in Wikieup and threw the bat in an open field, officers wrote.

Brandon Gregory also wrote a letter to his children asking them for “forgiveness for his actions,” the complaint reportedly said.

Prosecutors noted at a bond hearing how the “brutality of this case is alarming,” according to a courtroom report from KPHO. The victim’s family urged the judge to keep him behind bars and described the couple’s volatile relationship.

“He lied and manipulated his way back into her life. She uncovered more lies, lie after lie,” he said. “The guy’s entire life has been a lie. He’s a manipulator and a murderer. We ask that you deny any bond and don’t ever let him out again.”