ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Cellphone video recorded by a man as he was being fatally shot disproved the suspect’s wife’s claim that the victim was trying to run her over with a tractor and her husband was just trying to protect her, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said Billy Nobles, 30, was shot on March 12 at a property on Taylor Creek Road as part of an ongoing family feud about a property dispute.
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Records show Juanita Christie called 911 and said her husband, Ralph Christie Jr., 69, shot Nobles, who later died at an area hospital.
She claimed that her mother died in December 2016 and left the 40-acre property where the shooting occurred to her and her three sisters. Juanita and Ralph Christie had a home on the property, Nobles lived in a residence there with his wife and children and there was a residence that was rented by a non-family member as well.
Recently they discovered there was no property line and issues started to arise between the Christies and Nobles, who they claimed would go wherever he wanted on the property, dump trash and destroy trees, according to the affidavit.
Deputies said on the day of the shooting, Juanita Christie said she saw Nobles on a tractor knocking down trees near her home so she approached him in order to document what he was doing.
She then said Nobles hit her on her knee with the tractor wheel, so she poked him with a walking stick and said, “You ran me over,” according to the affidavit.
Records show she claimed “she was stuck in between the two wheels of the backhoe tractor and there was vines that were preventing her from being able to get out from between the two wheels.” She said Nobles continued driving the tractor and she was in fear for her life when her husband approached and shot Nobles, the report said.
Deputies said they spoke to the victim’s wife, who noticed that her husband’s cellphone had been recording when she found it on the ground near the tractor.
That 23-minute video was located and it showed Juanita Christie standing near the tractor and leaning against it so Nobles couldn’t operate it as Nobles yelled for her to move, according to the affidavit. Near the end of the footage, Ralph Christie approached with a rifle in his hand and Nobles shouted at him, “What the (expletive) is your deal?” moments before a single shot was fired, records show.
Then Nobles could be heard crying in pain and repeatedly saying that he had children, according to authorities.
Deputies said that video helped them determine that Juanita Christie was lying about the reason why her husband shot Nobles.
Nobles’ wife also told investigators that she and her husband had numerous issues with the Christies, including them changing locks to a shared gate so the Nobles couldn’t get to the home they rented. She put up security cameras and saw a decrease in incidents after that but said the Christies would still follow them around if they went on other parts of the property.
To help alleviate issues, the Nobles created their own driveway so they wouldn’t have to go through a shared gate but the landlord said they needed to make a new one by March 15, which is what Nobles was working on when he was shot, according to the report.
Ralph Christie was arrested March 13 on a charge of first-degree murder with a firearm. Juanita Christie was taken into custody Thursday night on a charge of providing false reports to law enforcement in a capital felony.