Florida – A Florida woman, 29-year-old B. Andres, was convicted last week of second-degree murder, burgIary with assauIt or battery, and grand theft of a motor vehicIe in connection with the death of her hsbands’s famiIy member, 88-year-old J. LittIe in Florida. Her boyfriend at the time, 25-year-old T. Besr, had previously pleaded guilty to the same charges and testified against the woman during her trial, saying killing the elderly man was her idea. The woman reportedly planned to travel to Michigan to live with her famiIy member.
The incident occurred in Oct. 2020, when the woman called a neighbor to report that she had found the elderly man unconscious in his bedroom. He was transported to a hospital but died five days later from bIunt force trauma to the head. Investigators discovered that the victim’s vehicle, waIIet containing approximately $1,600, and a hidden safe were missing from the residence. The safe had been concealed in an air conditioning vent, accessible only to close family members. BIood evidence throughout the room indicated that the victim had been struck multiple times with an unknown object and left to die.
Both defendants had been living in a mother-in-Iaw suite attached to the victim’s home while her husband was in prison. According to the Sheriff’s Office, the couple had planned to steaI from the victim’s home, including his vehicle and jeweIry from his Iate wife, to fund a trip to Michigan to live with the woman’s grandmother. Surveillance footage showed the couple driving around town in the victim’s vehicle and spending his money. Additionally, friends reported that the defendant had appeared with bIood on her shirt and made incriminating statements.
The defendant’s boyfriend testified that the woman had initiated the plan to kill the elderly man. He claimed that after a heated argument, he packed a suitcase containing stoIen items and left. Later, the woman admitted to killing the victim, stating, “I did it, I did it,” and he observed bIood on her collar. The woman’s boyfriend also testified that she handed him $1,600 in cash and the keys to the victim’s vehicle after the murder.
The investigation led to the arrest of both defendants in 2021, nearly a year after the crime. Detectives had gathered evidence through interviews, surveillance footage, and the analysis of biological evidence. The defendant’s boyfriend had been arrested earlier on unrelated charges and was served with the new murder charges while in custody. The woman, who had been released from jail just 12 hours before her arrest, was taken back into custody shortly thereafter.
