POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A 30-year-old Auburndale man was arrested in Georgia last week after allegedly leading investigators to the body of a man he was accused of strangling to death in Polk County, according to the Auburndale Police Department and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
David Jesse Williams was charged via warrant Friday with first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and grand theft auto, Polk County deputies said. He also faces a charge imposed by Auburndale police of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
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Deputies said the investigation started March 9 when an 81-year-old Auburndale man was reported missing to police. A witness told police that she hadn’t heard from the man since March 3, and that Williams’ past violent behavior made her concerned for the man’s safety. The man’s relation to Williams was not described.
Detectives with the Auburndale Police Department learned that Williams may have been at a residence in Hinesville, Georgia, where they then traveled in order to make contact with Georgia law enforcement who later assisted them there, deputies said. Upon locating Williams at the suspected home, he was allegedly found wearing gloves and cleaning the inside of the victim’s truck, where detectives observed blood in the cab and a shovel in the bed, deputies said.
Williams allegedly told detectives that he choked the victim to death using a black rope in the Polk City area, put the man’s body in the truck and drove to Georgia to bury him, deputies said. When Williams told detectives where the man’s body was, deputies said the body was found buried in a shallow grave with a black rope around his neck.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd lauded the partnership among his deputies, Auburndale police and Georgia law enforcement in the case.
“Auburndale police department officers did an outstanding job investigating the missing person case—their work led directly to the discovery of Williams as the man who killed our victim. Georgia law enforcement did an outstanding job monitoring the suspect’s movements and finding key evidence in the case, including the location of our victim’s body. By combining our resources, we were able to take a violent criminal off the streets,” Judd said in a statement.
Auburndale Police Chief Andy Ray also weighed in, describing the multi-agency effort further.
“Our members responded initially to a missing and endangered 81-year-old resident of Auburndale. They worked tirelessly over the next three days, during which they found out the victim had been killed in an area north of Polk City, taken to a wooded area in Long County, Georgia, and buried. We worked with the Liberty County (GA) Sheriff’s Office and the Worthville Police Department to locate and interview the suspect. They obtained a confession and were led to the buried body of the victim by the suspect. We also coordinated our investigation with Polk County Sheriff’s Office detectives, who are among the best in the business, demonstrating again the value of teamwork and cooperation,” Ray said in a statement.
Records show Williams is being held in the Liberty County Jail in Georgia, awaiting extradition to Polk County.