Chester County detectives say the crime took place on June 17th behind a garage door, which is now roped off with police tape.
Police say Kevin Mengel, Jr. was murdered by one of his workers at MKB Landscaping, who was having an affair with his wife.
According to investigators, Mengel went missing last Sunday, a fact his mother reported to police after she started getting text messages from her son. The thing was, her son usually did not send texts.
"[She was] receiving some text messages purported to be from him, which were completely out of character for him and that alerted her that there may be something wrong," West Goshen Township Police Chief Michael Carroll said.
Police say the text messages were sent from Mengle's 34-year-old wife, Morgan, to avoid suspicion.
After repeated interviews with Mrs. Mengel, police say she finally broke down and admitted an affair with 22-year-old Stephen Shappell, with whom she hatched a plan to kill her husband.
First, she told police, the pair tried drugging Mengel.
When that didn't work, she says, Shappell hit him in the head with a shovel. Then, she admitted, they buried his body in a deep grave behind Marple Newtown High School.
The grave was so deep it took police more than 24 hours and a cadaver dog to find it.
"I can tell you that without the use of this dog, we would not have been able to find this body," Carroll said.
Morgan Mengel has been taken into police custody. She is facing murder and conspiracy charges.
Stephen Shappell remains on the loose. He was last seen driving Mengle's White Ford 150 with Pennsylvania plates YSB 9330.
Anyone with any information as to Shappell's whereabouts is asked to contact West Goshen Township Police.
Police say Kevin Mengel is not the only victim of this crime.
"Obviously the children have lost their father, and obviously what has gone on, they're going to lose their mother for an extended period of time," Carroll said.
