A Florida man is arrested after allegedly murdering a married couple in their sleep, then persuading his stepdaughter to help him dump the bodies in a swamp.
Todd Jackson was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Raymond Cline, 33, and his wife, Crystal Ann Cline, 37, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Florida said.
The investigation began when police got a bunch of calls about a woman selling a pickup truck for $200.
One of those calls involved a tip that led Polk County County Sheriff’s Office detectives to the bodies “in a low-lying wooded area behind their residence,” police said in a media release. “It appeared that they had been shot and their bodies dumped in the swampy area.”
The bodies were found Friday, but the couple had been dead for some time, police said, based on the amount of decomposition.
The plot thickened from there. Raymond Cline was a metal scrapper, but his activity had stopped cold on Feb. 21, police said.
Raymond Cline and Crystal Cline were unable to be reached by phone since that time, and family members had not seen nor heard from either one in several weeks,” police said.
Their roommate, Amberlyn Nichols, 19, was caught trying to sell Raymond Cline’s truck, cops said. She is also Jackson’s stepdaughter.
“She told at least one witness that she knew that Raymond and Crystal had been murdered and that their bodies were dumped behind their residence in a swampy area,” police said.
“Well, do you know why the owner didn’t need the truck any longer?” Judd asked reporters Saturday, according to the Tampa Bay Times. “Because he was dead. He was murdered. And she was actually telling people that the victim had been shot in the head and was dead and they needed to get rid of his truck.”
Raymond Cline had allegedly stolen $30,000 from Jackson, police learned, according to WFLA-TV. Nichols told police her stepfather had “shot the two victims in the head as they slept at the crime scene,” police said. “The two victims’ bodies were drug out of the home and dumped in the swamp located behind the residence.”
Also assisting, and arrested: Larry James Waters Jr., Nichols’ 19-year-old boyfriend, who helped clean the crime scene and dispose of the bodies, as did Nichols, police said.
The double homicide also allegedly had a witness who claimed to be at the scene when the hit went down.
“The witness said he/she observed Todd Jackson pointing a firearm (handgun) at the victims and then shoot both victims,” police said.
Jackson then took an air conditioner out of a window so as to shove the bodies through it onto the lawn, Nichols told police, according to the Tampa Bay Times. They then unceremoniously “piled the bodies onto a furniture dolly and pushed them from the home to the wooded swamp.
Nichols and Waters admitted knowing about the murder and did not report it. And Nichols admitted she’d tried to sell that truck.
Nichols is also under arrest, for one count of accessory after the fact, dealing in stolen property and failing to report a death, two counts. Waters faces the same charges, minus the stolen property allegation.
