2020 Caldwell County murder case dismissed to feds

The murder case against a South Carolina man who allegedly killed his wife and buried her body in a shallow grave near Fredonia has been dismissed in Caldwell County.

Joseph Florentine is charged with murder and abuse of a corpse in the death of 36-year old Nicole Renee Florentine, whose body was found in Hill Cemetery in 2020.

The case against Florentine was dismissed in Caldwell County because federal charges have been issued for the same offenses in South Carolina, where the Florentines were residents. The Caldwell County prosecutor can still re-file the case at a later point if desired.

WPKY reports that evidence provided to the state shows that the couple was together, and that Nicole’s phone was active in Greenville, South Carolina four days before her body was found. That evening, Nicole’s phone stopped connecting to cell towers in South Carolina. Four days later Nicole’s body was discovered in the Fredonia cemetery. 

The state alleges that a rental car was discovered in Colorado where Joseph Florentine was later located, and the vehicle purportedly contained the blood of his wife near the trunk of the car. The state says that's circumstantial evidence that Florentine was involved in the disposal of Nicole’s body in the state of Kentucky. 

Evidence indicated that the condition of the body when it was discovered was in a state of advanced decomposition, suggesting that Nicole had perished sometime prior to the burial of the remains. Coupled with the evidence of the mobile phone stopping days prior in South Carolina, officials said this creates strong circumstantial evidence that Nicole neither passed away or suffered a fatal wound while in Kentucky.

Joseph Florentine was located and arrested in Denver ten days after the body was discovered, and was extradited back to the Caldwell County Jail until he was turned over to federal authorities.


WPKY's complete story is linked here .


(Photo Caldwell County Jail)