SANFORD, Fla. — As police investigate the recent murder of Latrice Randolph in her Seminole County apartment, they are digging deeper into how she met one of the men accused of killing her.
Investigators believe that Jimmie Elliott met Randolph online, but did not specify if it was through social media, a dating site, or some other site.
“It wasn't indicated that they were actually dating. We do know that they had gone out a few times, that he was coming over to the residence,” Sanford Police Department spokesman Ronny Neal said.
Investigators said Elliot wanted to move into the apartment with Randolph, but she was against it.
“She wanted him to leave at some point, and the information that we received is that is when some type of altercation occurred,” said Neal.
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Randolph was stabbed to death and Elliot and his brother Jeremiah Elliot were found inside the apartment by the woman’s mother, Octavia Horn Bryant, and maintenance worker, police said.
The men told Bryant they were staying at the Hatteras Sound apartment while her daughter was in Tallahassee, a Stanford police report said.
When Bryant smelled a foul odor, she grabbed her cellphone and started recording video of the two men, the report said.
At that point, Jimmie and Jeremiah Elliott packed their belongings and then fled the apartment on foot, the report said.
Randolph was found stabbed to death in a closet, covered by a comforter, police said.
Investigators believe Jimmie and Jeremiah Elliott lived in the apartment with Randolph’s body in the closet for at least two days.
“There were obvious signs that unknown persons had attempted to alter/clean up the scene,” an officer wrote in the report.
The men were captured and arrested a short time later.
Jimmie Elliot remains jailed without bail on a premeditated first-degree murder charge.
Jeremiah Elliott remains jailed without bail on charges of compounding crime felony punishable by death or life, and resisting arrest without violence.
During a vigil Thursday, Bryant said she will fight for justice and had very stern words for the men accused of stabbing her daughter to death.
“Her face will not go away. Her voice will not go away, because I will not go away,” Bryant said. “Baby, I will stand up for you until the day I die that those fools will not get out and come free.”