LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – The woman charged in the deaths of a Mount Dora couple at their apartment in a senior living community back in 2022 has been ruled incompetent to stand trial, according to newly released court documents.
An order filed on Monday shows that the woman — Vickie Lynn Williams, 51 — was seen by a doctor earlier this month, and he determined that Williams was “in urgent need of psychiatric hospitalization and treatment.”
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According to the order, Williams told the doctor that she had previously been admitted to a psychiatric hospital, but she hadn’t taken her psychiatric medication, denied mental health issues, and didn’t want to be considered mentally ill.
“Dr. Agharkar further opined that (Williams) has a major mental illness, disorganized thoughts, and while she does have some understanding of the participants of a trial, she could not assist counsel and could not testify,” court records state.
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In addition, a mental health counselor noted that Williams is “severely mentally ill,” pacing her cell at all hours of the day, “exorcising” her cell with toilet water and hoarding excrement.
Several other experts made similar observations, and when Williams was brought into the courtroom, her name was actually “Candace,” and mumbled to herself throughout the hearing, the court order says.
“(Williams) appears to know the allegations against her. However, (Williams) does not appreciate the range and nature of possible penalties, nor does she have an understanding of the adversarial nature of the legal process... Additionally, (Williams) is unable to manifest appropriate courtroom behavior,” the order reads.
As a result, Williams was found incompetent to stand trial, and she was committed to the Department of Children and Families to be placed in a mental health treatment facility, court records show.
Williams was arrested early last year after a retired Mount Dora couple was found stabbed to death inside their home at the Waterman Village senior living complex on New Year’s Eve in 2022.
According to interim Police Chief Mike Gibson, a woman was escorted from the complex by security the day before New Year’s Eve, though she was seen entering again that night.
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Afterward, the woman went to an apartment, knocked on the door and asked a resident inside whether she could take a shower, according to investigators. Gibson said the resident hit an alarm button, and the woman then grabbed a set of keys and fled.
The couple’s vehicle was seen leaving the complex early the next day, and Williams was later caught driving it, police said.
“It appears it was a random crime,” Gibson said during a news conference. “I believe it was someone that was simply passing through, and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event.”
In later interviews, Williams insisted that she got the car from an acquaintance in Georgia named Fuller Blue, that she was living in the car, and that she hadn’t been in Florida in years.
She faces charges of vehicular grand theft and two counts of first-degree murder.
Over two months after her arrest, prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty in her case.
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