Valley Man Stuffs Dead Girlfriend Into Shed

Jurors began deliberating yesterday in the second degree murder case of Reseda resident, Mark Allen Steffen, who is accused of killing his girlfriend and stuffing her body into his shed for a month and a half. He says he kicked her out and her dead body mysteriously reappeared in his house, so he put her body into the shed until finding proper burial. Prosecutors say this is clearly murder.

The 58-year-old part-time auto repossessor, on trial charged with murdering his girlfriend, Dina Canale, admitted as much before his defense rested Monday.

He agreed he'd slapped her around. He acknowledged he'd lied to police when they asked where the 37-year-old mother of three had gone.

Steffen even said he'd invited an old flame over for a barbecue next to the shed - where Canale's corpse sat rotting.

But stashing the body until he could find the right place to bury her was all he admitted. He didn't kill her, he said. [Daily News]

Dina Canale was reported missing on Aug. 12, 2006 and was missing for more than a month until Steffen's brother tipped off police, who found her on Sept. 21, 2006.

Photo by guamafro via Flickr