Man Charged With Murdering Landlord, Offering Cash To Move Body
LAUDERHILL (CBSMiami) – A man was charged Wednesday for murdering his Lauderhill landlord and then offering a friend $10,000 to move the body, police said.
Milton Williams, 48, was charged in the death of James Thomas White, 69.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that police received a tip Sunday that Williams had a dead body inside his residence along the 3200 block of Northwest 17th Street, Lauderhill Capt. Rick Rocco said.
White's body was found by detectives inside the home where Williams rented a room following a recent separation, according to a police report. White had suffered blunt force trauma to his head that caused a major skull fracture. Rocco said the type of weapon used in the crime was not known.
Rocco said the slaying is believed to be drug-related.
According to the police report, Williams called his estranged wife and told her that there was a "drug deal gone bad."
Driving White's van, he then showed up at her house and told Derek Porter, a mutual friend: "I killed a man, I killed a man!"
Porter then reluctantly agreed to go with Williams to the crime scene. That's where Porter saw the lower portion of a body lying on a bedroom floor, police said.
That's when Williams offered Porter $10,000 to move the body and Porter refused; he then asked to be driven back to the home of Angelique Williams, the report said.
Police said Porter tried to tell Angelique Williams about her husband's confession and the body he had seen, but she refused to listen to anything about her husband. Porter finally told her on Saturday, and she called police.
On Sunday, police went to Milton Williams' home and made the morbid discovery. After complaining of chest pains, police said he was taken to Florida Medical Center.
Williams was released on Tuesday and told police he got into an argument with White after smoking crack and couldn't remember what happened after that.
Williams is charged with first-degree murder. He was ordered held without bail in Broward County jail during his first appearance court hearing Wednesday.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel contributed material for this report.
