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Two men were charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday after human remains found inside a freezer at a Missouri home were positively identified through DNA testing as Cassidy Rainwater, who was photographed half-naked inside a cage after she went missing before suffering a grisly death.

News of the positive identification was accompanied by the release of sickening new details concerning the kidnapping victim’s death, including how the 33-year-old woman was strangled to death, strapped to a crane, eviscerated and cut into pieces, according to authorities. 

No motive has been revealed in connection with Rainwater’s brutal killing.  

James Phelps, 58, and Timothy Norton, 56, were hit with the murder counts as well as being charged with abandonment of a corpse. They had previously been charged with kidnapping. 

Norton’s lawyer, Brenden Twibell, told the Springfield News-Leader the new charges were expected and Norton will plead not guilty.

DNA testing has positively identified human remains that were found in a freezer at a Missouri home as missing woman Cassidy Rainwater (pictured) 

James Phelps, 58 (left), and Timothy Norton, 56 (right), have been charged with first-degree murder, abandonment of a corpse and kidnapping

Norton is scheduled to appear in court next Tuesday.

Phelps will appear in court Friday. His attorneys said they will ask a judge to set a bond. 

Phelps and Norton have been jailed on a kidnapping charge since mid-September, when photos of Rainwater partially nude and confined to a cage were found on Phelps’ phone, authorities said.

Dallas County Sheriff Scott Rice said Wednesday in a Facebook post that the seven photos also showed Rainwater’s body on a gantry crane, which is commonly used for deer processing, where she was disemboweled and dismembered before her body was placed in a bathtub. 

Some of the woman’s body parts were later found in a freezer, he said.

On October 4, a fire that has been ruled an arson destroyed Phelps’ home near Lebanon, Missouri 

Prior to the fire, investigators searched this rural residence and discovered human remains belonging to Rainwater, along with a gantry crane to which she had been tied so that she could be eviscerated and dismembered, according to the sheriff’s office   

Rice said Norton told investigators Phelps asked him to help kill Rainwater on July 24 while she was staying at Phelps’ home. The woman was described as sleeping when the attack took place. 

Norton said he held Rainwater down while Phelps put a plastic bag over her head and strangled her, according to Rice.

Sheriff’s deputies were contacted in late August by a woman who said Rainwater hadn’t been seen for a month and Phelps was the last person she was seen with.

In September, Phelps twice told investigators that Rainwater was staying with him while she got on her feet, but he said he hadn’t seen her since she left about a month ago and that she was going to Colorado, Rice said.

On September 16, the FBI provided the photos of Rainwater to Dallas County detectives, who arrested Phelps. Norton was arrested on September 20 after speaking to authorities.

Phelps claimed in September that Rainwater was staying with him while she got on her feet, but he said he hadn’t seen her since she left a month prior 

Norton allegedly confessed to helping Phelps kill and dismember Rainwater 

Investigators searched Phelps’ home near Lebanon, Missouri, for seven days and found the gantry crane, cage and items in the freezer that appeared to be ‘human flesh,’ Rice said. Those items were dated July 24. 

Digital evidence found at the scene revealed messages between Phelps and Norton planning Rainwater’s death, the sheriff said.

Some skeletal remains believed to be Rainwater were located on the adjacent property, authorities said.

On October 4, a fire that investigators have ruled an arson destroyed Phelps’ home. Officials investigating the fire found two explosive devices made with mortar tubes and balloon covers, with tripwires attached, near the home.

Phelps held Rainwater at his Moon Valley Road property in Lebanon, Mo. which is located about 160 miles southeast of St. Louis

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