Bloody Items Found in Dumpster Near Suspect's Apartment in Pasco Teen's Killing, Affidavit Says

Items stained with blood, including a shoe matching one found near the body of a slain 16-year-old Spring Hill girl, were recovered from a community dumpster at the apartment complex of the 19-year-old boyfriend accused of killing her, according to a criminal complaint affidavit in the case. Robert Anthony Timmons Jr. is charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the girl's shooting death early Sunday, Nov. 8, and is being held without bond in the Pasco County Jail.

The affidavit, first reported by WFLA on Wednesday, lays out the Pasco Sheriff's Office's account of how detectives connected Timmons to the killing within about a day: surveillance video, a series of changing statements, an admission that he fired the shot, and physical evidence pulled from the trash. Timmons has not entered a plea and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

What the affidavit says happened

The girl's parents reported her missing at about 7:01 a.m. Sunday, telling detectives they last saw her Saturday evening and believed she may have gone to see Timmons, according to the affidavit. Surveillance video from her family's apartment complex showed her getting into a dark-colored vehicle at about 1:15 a.m. Sunday.

Additional video showed the vehicle remaining in the area for an extended period, "with movements consistent with arguing or a physical confrontation," the affidavit states. At about 2:32 a.m., the vehicle drove farther into the complex and out of the camera's view. The only other occupant seen in the vehicle was the driver.

Her body was found at 11:24 a.m. on the south side of Crela Drive in Spring Hill, according to the affidavit. The Tampa Bay Times reported that deputies found her about 15 feet off the roadway in the 15600 block of Crela Drive, not far from where the road dead-ends at the Suncoast Parkway and near her family's apartment complex. She had been shot in the head near her left temple and had a fresh bruise on her right inner arm, the affidavit says.

The sequence of events described by investigators is summarized below.

Shifting statements, then an admission

Family members identified Timmons as someone detectives should talk to. Pasco Sheriff Jeff Harrington said at a Monday news conference that relatives had described the relationship as "tumultuous" and "toxic."

When detectives first spoke with Timmons at his apartment complex, he claimed he had not seen the girl for two or three days because they had broken up, the affidavit says. He told them he spoke with her by phone on the evening of Nov. 7 and received a message from her around 1 a.m. Nov. 8 saying she wanted to see him. He first denied going to see her, then said he had "Hypothetically" gone to see her and that she started an argument about infidelity in their relationship, according to the document.

In a second interview at the sheriff's office West Operations building, after being read his rights, Timmons said he met her after 1 a.m. to argue but left her there, the affidavit says. Under further questioning, detectives wrote, he admitted making false statements and said he shot her while the two were in the car.

"The defendant admitted during the entire incident he had his handgun on his lap, for quick access," the affidavit states. According to the document, Timmons said he went to strike her with his left hand while holding the gun in that hand, and that the gun fired as he struck her. He claimed the shooting was accidental and that he believed the gun's safety was engaged, the affidavit says.

The borrowed car and the dumpster

Timmons told detectives he had borrowed a black Kia Rio from a neighbor to meet the girl, and that she bled heavily in the car's passenger compartment, according to the affidavit. He said he left her body in a wooded area near Crela Drive and confirmed the location on a map provided by investigators.

After leaving the body, Timmons drove back to his apartment complex, tried to clean the blood out of the Kia, and threw items from the car into the community dumpster, the affidavit says. A detective who searched the dumpster found what the document lists as "a bloody white Croc-style shoe matching the type of shoe located near the victim's body, shoes attributed to the defendant containing apparent blood, a blood contaminated child's car seat, a bloody vehicle floor mat, blood contaminated clothing, children's toys, and additional items associated with the Kia."

Timmons also told detectives he threw the gun into a lake near a relative's home off State Road 52, according to the affidavit. The sheriff's office dive team was searching the water for it Monday, the Times reported, and as of Tuesday the weapon had not been found, People reported. Investigators said they were processing a vehicle and an apartment for evidence and had recovered other evidence Timmons identified, WTSP reported.

What the sheriff said

Harrington described the case in blunt terms at Monday's news conference. "After he murdered this 16-year-old girl, he took her around the back of where this apartment complex was, and he callously dumped the body 15 feet off the road, and then he left," the sheriff said.

He said the girl's parents had been trying to protect her. "They were taking steps to try to insulate her from that type of relationship that she was in," Harrington said. He said investigators were not aware of earlier reports of violence in the relationship, but cautioned that the lack of reported violence does not mean a toxic relationship carries no risk of it. "This was a tragic, tragic event, and we have a 16-year-old young woman who will never see her 18th birthday," he said, according to WFLA.

Harrington urged anyone facing domestic violence to seek help. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is available at 1-800-799-7233.

A community in mourning

Family, friends and community members gathered Tuesday night for a vigil in Port Richey, according to local news reports. Her family moved to Florida from the New Jersey area about eight years ago, and relatives have set up a fundraiser to cover funeral costs and burial in New Jersey. Her stepfather thanked the community and asked people to keep her in their prayers. A Port Richey boxing gym also mourned her loss this week, WTSP reported.

What's next

Timmons made a first appearance in court Tuesday and is being held without bond. He is scheduled for a hearing Nov. 13, according to court records cited by People. No attorney was listed for him in court records as of Tuesday afternoon. The Pasco Sheriff's Office asks anyone with information to call its tip line at 1-800-706-2488 or submit a tip at PascoSheriff.com/tips.