Texas man in jail after allegedly decapitating his newlywed wife

A 21-year-old Texas man remained jailed Friday after authorities accused him of killing and decapitating his wife.

Jared Dicus has been charged with murder in the death of 21-year-old Anggy Diaz. Dicus is being held on a $500,000 bond.

Waller County Sheriff Troy Guidry said authorities found Diaz’s body Wednesday afternoon at a home the couple shared in a rural area near Magnolia, located about 44 miles northwest of Houston.

“It’s a gruesome crime,” Guidry said.

Dicus was found at the murder scene and arrested, Guidry said. The sheriff told reporters that Dicus later confessed to the killing. Investigators believe a kitchen knife was used in the slaying.

Court records did not list an attorney for Dicus who could speak on his behalf.

Guidry said authorities are still trying to determine a motive.

Diaz’s friends told CBS affiliate KHOU-TV that she was an immigrant from Nicaragua who had been working two jobs to help pay for her mother’s cancer treatment back home.

Surveillance video from a store where Diaz worked appears to show Dicus pulling up in the parking lot around 11:40 a.m. on the day she was found dead, KHOU-TV reported. The video appears to show him walking into the store and grabbing a beer before he appears to be seen opening the beer, taking a sip and driving away.

Guidry said there were prior calls of a disturbance made from the home but “nothing to this effect or level of violence,” KHOU reported.

“That’s the world we live in today. It’s a gruesome scene,” Guidry said. “Both sides of these families will be altered by it.”

Waller County Judge Trey Duhon said in a statement on Facebook that he had married the couple in October.

“During my short time with them, they were a very nice young couple,” Duhon wrote, adding: “I’m greatly saddened and shocked by the news of this tragic event and my prayers are with all of their families.”

A fundraiser set up by the victim’s family called Diaz “the light to our family and community.” It had raised more than $20,000 as of Friday afternoon.