After a car that was eluding Greenwood Village police crashed at East Orchard Road and South Dayton Street early Wednesday, officers made a shocking discovery in the back seat: the dismembered remains of a woman.

After a short chase on foot, Ari Misha Liggett, 24, of Centennial was arrested.

The woman whose body was found in the car has not yet been identified, but before the crash, Liggett and his 56-year-old mother had been reported missing. Their family had asked people to check on them Monday, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday night.

His mother’s name was not released, but public records show the home is owned by Beverly A. Liggett, a registered nurse.

Authorities used credit-card information to learn that at least one of the two had traveled to Colorado’s Western Slope early Tuesday.

About 30 minutes before Wednesday’s crash, a vehicle similar to the one driven by the family was seen driving past their home in the 6200 block of East Peakview Drive, and area law enforcement was alerted.

About 1:50 a.m. Wednesday, a Greenwood Village police officer tried to pull over the vehicle.

Liggett is being held without bond in the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office Detention Facility on suspicion of first-degree murder.

The sheriff’s department said an earlier search of the family’s home turned up a quantity of what appeared to be potassium cyanide, a poisonous compound, although laboratory tests have not yet been concluded.

Liggett has been in the news before.

In March 2010, he caused a seven-hour evacuation of a homeless shelter in Boulder after bringing in a suspicious chemical in his suitcase. The chemical was never publicly identified, and Liggett was not charged with a hazardous-material violation. Instead he was arrested on a warrant alleging possession of a dangerous weapon from Arapahoe County.

He pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment in December and received a four-year deferred sentence and one year of probation, records show.

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joeybunch