ADDIS — The body of a man recovered along the bank of the Mississippi River in Addis in September was identified Thursday as a 63-year-old man accused of stabbing his wife 36 times, deputies said.

Kirk Craig Sr. was identified as the body recovered on Sept. 21 after an autopsy, deputies added.

Craig was wanted by the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office for the first-degree murder of his wife on Sept. 9.

According to an arrest warrant filed on Sept. 10, Craig and his wife argued outside of their Mead Road apartment on Aug. 8. A month later, Craig allegedly told a family member he planned on killing his wife.

Later that evening, the Baton Rouge Police Department was notified of an abandoned vehicle registered to Craig at the top of the Mississippi River Bridge on Interstate 10 West. Both the keys and a handwritten note containing several phone numbers were found in the car, deputies said in the warrant.

After searching the car, police said that blood had been removed from the steering wheel, center console and other areas inside the car.

Deputies later responded to the couple's apartment to conduct a welfare check, only to find Craig's wife stabbed to death 36 times, the warrant notes.

Craig wasn't seen again until Sept. 21 when a fisherman found his body and it was recovered by West Baton Rouge Parish deputies.