Ex-wife of man charged with killing Holly Springs woman faces charges of her own
The ex-wife of Brian Sluss, who was charged last week with killing his ex-girlfriend, faces charges of her own in connection with the woman’s death.
Jarlyn Lisbeth Sluss, 36, was arrested Tuesday with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and obstruction of justice, Holly Springs spokesman Mark Andrews told The News & Observer.
Last week, police charged Brian Sluss, 44, with murder in the death of Monica Moynan, who was last seen in April 2019. He was indicted May 5, by a Wake County grand jury and remains in jail without bail.
Jarlyn Sluss was arrested at her home in Garner. She is being held in Wake County Detention Center on $750,000 bail.
The last time anyone saw Moynan, 22, apart from Sluss was in early April 2019, according to search warrant applications. Her family reported her missing in July, and by October, the case had become a “death investigation with suspicious circumstances,” police said last fall.
Moynan has not been found, but Holly Springs Police Chief John Herring told The News & Observer Friday that investigators have “a solid case” and “a significant amount of physical evidence.”
“When you don’t have a body, there is a lot of evidence that needs to be collected to confirm that the person isn’t still alive,” Herring said in a phone interview with The N&O. “It takes time to gather the evidence.”
Both Brian Sluss and Jarlyn Sluss were investigated as persons of interest, or people who may have key information about a case. In March, the Holly Springs Police Department said Brian Sluss had become a suspect.
Before Monica Moynan was declared missing, her family and friends continued to receive text messages from Moynan’s phone, and social media posts appeared on her accounts.
But Sluss told police he was behind the texts and social media posts, according to search warrant applications.
According to search warrant applications, Jarlyn Sluss failed to disclose information to police about her communication with her ex-husband until confronted about it.
Based on phone records, police believe Jarlyn and Brian Sluss kept in contact after Moynan is believed to have been killed, search warrant applications state.
Jarlyn Sluss told investigators her ex-husband called her the day Moynan is believed to have been killed “in an emotional state,” the documents state. He talked about what his kids should receive from him, as though he was planning his estate, search warrant applications state.
Police say Brian Sluss went to Jarlyn Sluss’ house four times within a month in April and May 2019 and two more times in July, the documents state. After Moynan was reported missing on July 23, Sluss lied to police, saying he was on his way to his parents’ house when he was at Jarlyn Sluss’s house, the documents state, citing GPS phone records.
He told police he asked Jarlyn Sluss to call Moynan’s apartment manager and pretend to be Moynan, according to search warrant applications.
Police also recorded a phone call between her and Brian Sluss.
A search warrant was executed at Jarlyn Sluss’s house in August 2019. Jarlyn Sluss told police she had a copy of a driver’s license belonging to Moynan and personal photos of her.
Brian Sluss told police he was thinking about rekindling a relationship with his ex-wife, the documents stated.
Jarlyn Sluss told investigators she did not lie about her communication with Brian Sluss, but omitted details while speaking to them, the documents state. She would only tell officers what happened when confronted. She also told police that she told her ex-husband about her interactions with them.
Finding Moynan is extremely important, her family members told The News & Observer Thursday. Moynan and Brian Sluss have two children, and they want to tell them the truth about their mother.
“Moni deserves some form of complete rest, and she can’t do that when she’s out there alone wherever she was left,” said Melanie Tucker, Moynan’s mother.
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 4:52 PM.