KINGFISHER, Okla. – A man is in custody accused of killing, burning, and dismembering the woman he’s been in a relationship with for more than ten years.

62-year-old Steven Stricker sits in the Kingfisher County Jail.

Court documents show in 2011, Stricker was also arrested on domestic violence charges.

“I bought grocery for her every week,” neighbor Susan Mitchell said. “We talked a lot.”

Susan Mitchell lives across the street from Steven Stricker and Brenda Baber.

She said Stricker was working in the garden this week around the same time all communication with Baber, her long – time friend and neighbor, came to a halt.

“It’s just very shocking,” Mitchell said.

Police say Baber and Stricker had been together for almost a decade.

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spent much of Friday sifting through the couple’s backyard, digging up with they call a charred and dismembered body.

“It’s one thing to hurt a person but to do what they say he did that`s a lot,” Mitchell said.

According to a report acquired by Kingfisher Press, Baber’s sister told police Stricker claimed he used to be a butcher, he knew how to get rid of the body, and “a fireplace works wonders”.

Kingfisher Police Chief Dennis Baker said Baber’s sister hadn’t heard from her since Tuesday.

Come Thursday, she still heard nothing.

That’s when police performed a welfare check.

“They were allowed inside the home,” Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations Public Information Officer Brook Arbeitman said. “They found her walker, her medicine, her dog, and things that she can’t live without.”

All this news leaving neighbors in disbelief and a loss for words. “She was amazing and I love her. I don’t know what else to say other than I`m just sorry.”

Police said the official charges should be filed on Monday.