The ex-husband of a missing mother who was last seen in a grocery store in Florida a month ago has confessed to her murder, police said.
Steven Williams was charged with murdering his former wife Tricia Todd, 30, on Wednesday but her body has still not been found.
Air Force veteran Ms Todd was last seen 'smiling and in good spirits' as she picked up groceries from a Publix supermarket in Hobe Sound on April 26, just a few hours before she vanished.
Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said Ms Todd's two-year-old daughter was present when her mother was killed.
Ms Todd was murdered just hours after she was seen on surveillance footage at the store, investigators said at a press conference on Wednesday.
After leaving the shop, the mother was told by Williams, 30, that her two-year-old daughter was not feeling well.
Williams - who had traveled from North Carolina to visit the girl - went with Ms Todd to Martin Memorial South Hospital that night.
She went to the bed and breakfast where her ex-husband was staying and was said to have left at around 2am the next day.
Ms Todd was reported missing later that morning when she failed to pick her daughter up from the hospital.
Her car was later found near her home with the keys still in the ignition. Her credit cards and phone - which was missing - had not been used.
Police and hundreds of volunteers have spent the last month searching for Ms Todd, but investigators said earlier this month that there was 'not one scintilla of evidence of a crime'.
Authorities now say that Williams has confessed to murdering his ex-wife.
He has been charged with second-degree murder and child neglect and is being held without bond at Martin County Jail.
Williams was interviewed earlier this month and passed a lie detector test,
NBC News reported.
Police are still searching for the mother's body and are searching a 15-mile radius around the vast Jonathan Dickinson State Park,
CBS 12 reported.
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Earlier this month it was revealed that Williams and Ms Todd were involved in a domestic violence incident in 2014 in North Carolina but he was not arrested.
He said when she was last seen she appeared to be in 'good spirits' but her social media presence suggested she was 'having some kind of emotional angst within herself'.
Ms Todd's younger brother, Nathan, 19, insisted she was a 'perfectly happy individual'.
He said: 'Tricia's a tough girl. Tricia loves God and God loves her.
'I have something that I know for a fact, and that's that God's in control and that God will take care of it.'
He added: 'You could put a hurricane through her, she would (still) go pick up her daughter.'
Ms Todd's family said they would strive to make sure her daughter knew how much her mother loved her before she was killed.
'The confirmation of Tricia’s death is beyond heart-breaking and indescribably painful. We will miss her vibrant love of life, her servant’s heart, and her beautiful smile,' a statement from the family said.
'Tricia’s life was a testimony of God’s grace and mercy. While we mourn our loss, we know that Tricia is not truly lost, but in the arms of her loving Heavenly Father. This assurance gives us hope in knowing we will one day be together again.
'Tricia’s little girl was blessed with a loving mother and we will make sure that she knows just how much her Mommy loved her every day. She is in a safe, healthy home environment and being surrounded with the love of her family.
'Tricia’s compassion and love for others and, most importantly her love for God, will live on in the heart’s of all who knew her. The love and prayers from people around the world are sustaining our family during this difficult time.'