GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- A Gwinnett County man has been arrested and charged in the July 2011 death of his wife.
Matthew Leili was taken into police custody Wednesday. He is being held at the Gwinnett County Detention Center on a murder charge.
Leili is accused of killing his wife, 44-year-old Dominique "Nique" Leili. She was last seen July 9, 2011; the suspect reported her missing two days later.
Nique's body was found July 16, 2011 in a wooded area near her home on Sidneys Cove in unincorporated Lawrenceville.
The medical examiner ruled her cause of death as "unclear." Police opened a homicide investigation.
According to a Gwinnett County news release, a search warrant was served at Leili's house after the death. Several computers were seized, but a forensic search did not turn up enough to make a criminal charge.
Authorities that even though they didn't have enough evidence to charge Leili at the time, he was never eliminated as a suspect.
Leili moved to Vermont with his two children in 2011. In late 2014, a new forensic investigation was done on the computers seized from the home, and new evidence was obtained, according to the police release. Authorities determined there was probable cause to charge Leili with three counts of unlawful eavesdropping and malice murder.
Police now believe that Dominique Leili was asphyxiated by Matthew.
The victim's sister, Amy Robinson, issued a statement saying:
"We are as surprised as everybody else. We are obviously pleased with the results and that the police are taking the next step and making progress."
Leili made his first court appearance on Thursday. His next court date is March 12 at 1:30 p.m.
