Man Charged With Murdering Ex-Girlfriend
MANKATO, Minn. (WCCO) -- A Golden Valley, Minn. man has been charged with murdering a 19-year-old woman from Henderson.
Nineteen-year-old Damone Christopher Williams-Tillman is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Josselyn Bishop, of Henderson, Minn.
Bishop was found unresponsive but warm to the touch Friday afternoon in a commercial district of Mankato. Authorities said she had suffered multiple stab wounds.
Due to the high-traffic level in the area, police said she had likely been there for only a few hours before a work crew found her.
Crews tried to revive Bishop, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
She had no identification on her, so police canvassed the area, asking for the general public's help in identifying her.
Before long, the victim's roommate contacted police concerned because Bishop hadn't shown up for work, which was unusual for her. Another roommate told police that Bishop had recently broken up with Williams-Tillman.
Officers apprehended Williams-Tillman in Golden Valley. He told police he had picked up Bishop at a movie theater near her apartment in his father's car. During the conversation, he said she told him she was seeing someone else. He said he blacked out and remembered having a knife, and remembered seeing her laying in the grass bleeding.
Meanwhile, agents were talking to the suspect's father, Damone Tillman. He said his son had borrowed the car. Tillman said he arrived home from work later that night and noted Williams-Tillman seemed quieter than usual.
Police spoke once again with Williams-Tillman, who admitted to them that he began stabbing Bishop after she told him that she was seeing someone else. He said he couldn't remember how many times he stabbed her because he closed his eyes while doing it. He also told investigators he remembers throwing his knife and Bishop's cell phone out of his car window, over a bridge with water, as he drove away from the scene.
A jail guard testified that he overhead a confession -- Williams-Tillman making a call, saying "I messed up real bad." After a pause he then said, "I killed someone."
The statement is a frightening wakeup call across campus, where word of the violent act grips fellow students.
"I think a lot of women don't realize what the warning signs are so they don't really know if they are in an abusive relationship or not. And a lot of girls don't know whether or not they should to get out of a relationship or how they should do that," said college student Kate Engstrom. "I think everybody needs to be a community of friends, everyone needs to look out for each other."
Bishop's roommates also told police about trouble leading up to her murder. They revealed that Williams-Tillman recently threw Bishop's phone into a pond and slashed the tires on her car last April.
Williams-Tillman remains in custody. A conviction on a second-degree murder charge could result in a prison sentence of up to 40 years.
