Lynette Quast, Tom Craft: Dismembered Mother’s Head Found, Body Parts In McDonald’s Dump, On ID’s ‘Fatal Vows’

Lynette Quast, a Swanton, Ohio wife and mother, was murdered and dismembered in her home by her husband Thomas ‘Tom’ Craft in 1999. Investigation Discovery’s Fatal Vows will profile the grisly crime in the episode “Deadly Obsession.” Lynette Quast vanished after she told neighbors and relatives she was leaving Tom Craft and returning home to Whitewater, Wisconsin. When she didn’t show, she was reported missing. Investigators found the woman’s body parts in garbage bags around Ohio. Tom Craft was sentenced to prison. He has since been released. Fatal Vows will dramatize the murder and provide a timeline analysis of the case.

Fatal Vows: High School Sweethearts Were The Perfect Couple

When Thomas ‘Tom’ Craft met Lynette Quast in high school, everyone thought the lovers were the most likely to succeed. By all accounts, they were driven, intelligent, and very much in love. In college, Lynette studied nursing and Tom took classes in mechanical engineering. The high school sweethearts married at the age of 21.

After Tom Craft was offered a job in Ohio, the couple relocated and left Lynette Quast’s close-knit family behind. However, the relationship became strained after the couple had their first child. They were low on money, and Lynette’s spending was said to be out of control.

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Missing Wife Told Tales of Sexual, Physical Abuse

Lynette Quast Craft, 38, had lifelong friends with whom she communicated by phone. However, as the marriage took a turn for the worst, friends heard from Lynette less and less. According to her friends, Tom Craft discontinued their long distance service and isolated her from her friends and family. In fact, he turned out to be a very controlling husband, who forced her to perform oral sex, while he timed it. Friends also heard tales of emotional and physical abuse.

Tom Craft, 50, told his friends that Lynette Quast Craft was crazy and that he had to have her admitted into the psyche unit. He also told friends that Lynette once came after him with a knife.

Neighbors became aware of the couple’s problems after noticing a change in Lynette’s behavior. The once friendly neighbor had now become sullen and standoffish.

The last time Lynette Craft’s brother heard from her, his sister was sad and afraid. She told her brother that Tom did not want her to come to his wedding and that if she left, he’d kill her. However, Lynette still planned to leave him the following Monday.

Lynette Quast Craft never made it to her parents’ home. Her father reported her missing after seeing a cut on Tom Craft’s hand during an unplanned visit to their house.

It only took police hours to find out what had happened to Lynette. A McDonald’s worker contacted police after finding a garbage bag filled with body parts in their restaurant dumpster. Inside were two human feet. At a rest stop, police discovered female thighs and identification belonging to Lynette Quast Craft. The missing mother’s head was later found in a landfill.

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Relatives cried and screamed in anguish once they learned the details of Lynette’s death. Tom Craft told police that Lynette killed herself, which was against her strong Catholic beliefs. He said he wanted to hide that fact from her devoutly Catholic family and her children. To do that, he dismembered the body and hid it. Lynette Craft’s eight-year-old son told investigators he saw his father watching a video of how to dismember a body, according to court records.

Thomas ‘Tom’ Craft was arrested and charged with voluntary manslaughter. After serving about 12 years in prison, he was released in 2011, according to The Blade.

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To watch this harrowing tale, tune into Fatal Vows tonight on Investigation Discovery. Here is another case that aired on Fatal Vows.

[Featured Image by Ted S. Warren/AP Images]