A Florida man has been arrested and charged after reporting a dead body that he discovered.
James Gafford has been hit with a first-degree murder charge in the death of 29-year-old Kaitlyn Emery, according to theNew York Daily News. He told authorities on April 21 that he found her body in a thick brush in the woods, close to a busy Orlando intersection. He was later arrested on June 10 by detectives with the Criminal Investigation Division’s Violent Crimes Section.
It appears the two knew each other. A spokesperson for the Orlando Police Department said that the 55-year-old met Emery at a bus stop on April 19. It’s unclear how the woman was killed, though police say he killed her near the stop in a wooded area.
“This is a disturbed individual [who] committed a horrible, horrible act here,” Lt. Frank Chisari said in a press conference, per Click Orlando. “He had a relationship with her at some point and he killed her though the course of this relationship.”
“The timeline just kind of matched up with our investigation, as far as when he would have been around and when he would have had the opportunity to commit the homicide,” Chisari added.
The 55-year-old is a registered sexual predator and was described in court documents as a “transient.” He’s currently in the county jail and being held without bail.
