TOTEM POLED

Ray, Minnesota (SafeCITY) - Carl Muggli, a 49-year-old Minnesota man, has been arrested after he allegedly murdered his wife with a giant totem pole so he could pursue a relationship with another woman.

According to the Koochiching County Sheriff's Office, deputies were called to the couple's garage last November to find 61-year-old Linda Muggli pinned to the ground with a 2900-pound totem pole laying on top of her. A border patrol agent who was first to arrive on the scene, rolled the giant wood carving off of Linda as she gasped with blood pouring from her mouth.

Although she was still breathing when emergency crews arrived, she died shortly after arriving at a local hospital.

Carl Muggli told deputies that his back was turned when the giant totem pole fell out of it's cradle and landed on his wife, instantly crushing her.

Carl and Linda Muggli lived in a log home and operated a totem pole carving business about 20 miles south of International Falls (on the Minnesota/Ontario Canada border).

About a week after the "accident" a source came forward with printout pages that showed Carl Muggli had been having an online love affair with an Alabama woman using the social networking site Facebook.

Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents confiscated Muggli's computer and uncovered Facebook messages that were exchanged between Mugglie and his mistress for about a month prior to Linda Muggli's death.

"I love you with all my being, I want us together to live our lives as we seek. For I am with you," Muggli allegedly wrote the woman. "I am yours. We are one."

On November 28, Muggli wrote: "I love you Eveningstar, we'll get through this, I love you, house just got full again, will call soon."

Muggli also began emailing Realtors in Texas - looking for "a country home on 5 or more acres to rent or lease."

A few hours after his wife's memorial service, Muggli allegedly sent his girlfriend a link to a property he had found in Palestine, Texas. She responded by stating "This is good, follow your heart as I have been doing. I love you baby - call when you can, Hugs and Kisses, holding you tight, I will not let you go, love you my husband."

Investigators went back to the couple's garage and tried to re-create the accident. After at least 5 attempts, detectives were unable to get the 17-foot-tall pole to fall in the manner Muggli described it.

Detectives also inspected the pole that killed Linda Muggli and discovered that it had been coated with polyurethane in an effort to cover up evidence.

In May, the woman in Alabama told authorities that she was on the phone with Muggli when she overheard him arguing with his wife about getting a divorce. Muggli reportedly called her back about 30 minutes later stating that there had been an accident and emergency crews had arrived to help his wife.

Seven months after Linda Mugglie's death, Carl Muggli was arrested in Stockdale, Texas. He now awaits extradition back to Minnesota where he faces one count of second-degree murder.