Police haven't yet determined the motive for the murder of a Milford woman, but the men arrested in connection with her disappearance are believed to have been operating an auto theft ring.

Two more suspects, including the victim's husband, were taken into custody Thursday. The body of Kathy Vroman, 48, of Milford, was located in St. Joseph County, Mich., about 2 a.m. today.

William Weston Vroman, 32, whose address is listed as Goshen on his booking sheet, was charged with burglary to a business. He is being held without bond in the Kosciusko County Jail. Police took Vroman into custody at Goshen General Hospital, where he went for treatment of chest pains.

Police said Vroman is one of several suspects in a December burglary at Rice Ford in Warsaw, where more than $100,000 worth of 2001 vehicles were stolen. Police also have been investigating several auto thefts that occurred in late 2000 in northern Kosciusko and southern Elkhart counties.

Lawrence Grant, 29, of Goshen, is in custody in Wildwood, Fla., on a charge of auto theft. Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine said Grant's wife was the person who initiated the murder investigation by calling the Milford Police Department Wednesday night. That call was received by the Kosciusko County Central Dispatch Center, which answers the telephone calls for the department during nonbusiness hours. Rovenstine declined to discuss details of the phone call.

Bond for Jason Michael Fisher, 22, of Millersburg, was set at $1 million, while all of the other suspects in this case are being held in lieu of bond pending initial hearings in their cases. Those hearings will likely take place today, officials said. Rovenstine said the extradition process for bringing Grant back to Kosciusko County has already begun. He would not speculate as to whether Grant would fight the extradition.

Fisher and his father, Ralph Freddrick Fisher, 46, of Goshen, are both charged with murder. The elder Fisher also faces a charge of assisting a criminal. George Aldrich, 28, of 9492-A Ind. 19N, Etna Green, is being held on a charge of theft.

Police said Jason Fisher is the owner of the Country Car Co. on Higbee Street in Milford, where Aldrich, Grant and Kathy Vroman also were employed.

William Vroman told Milford police that he last saw his wife when he dropped her off at work on the morning of Jan. 15. The van she was driving was found in Angola Thursday. The vehicle belongs to Country Car Co. and had a dealer license plate on it when Vroman was last seen.

As part of the ongoing investigation, police executed search warrants Thursday at the Country Car Co., the Vromans' Milford home and Jason Fisher's residence in Millersburg.

No information was available as to what evidence, if any, was uncovered at any of those locations.

Kosciusko County Coroner Larry Ladd is expected to retrieve Vroman's body after an autopsy is performed by medical examiners at Grand Rapids, Mich., later today. The cause of death was not officially released, but police believe Vroman was shot.

According to a press release from the St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office, Vroman's body was found partially buried in snow at a location near Three Rivers, Mich. Rovenstine said authorities were able to locate the body by following descriptions of the area provided in the Florida telephone call from Grant's wife.

Police believe Vroman was killed in Milford and her body was left at the Michigan location.

The Vromans lived in Milford for only about two weeks, authorities said. The couple moved to the Goshen/Elkhart area in August from the Watertown, N.Y., area, where both were under investigation for embezzlement, according to reports in the Watertown Daily Times.

Those newspaper accounts indicated that William Vroman was suspended as chief of the Herrings Volunteer Fire Department when it was discovered the unit was $60,000 in debt. Kathy Vroman was secretary of the department at the time, according to published reports.

Local investigations, as well as probes in Michigan and Florida related to this case, are ongoing. A press conference is scheduled for 1 p.m. today. [[In-content Ad]]