An active-duty U.S. Marine was taken into custody this week over the killing of a former reality show contestant who had gone missing, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office in Florida announced .
Willie Ellington, 20, was charged with first-degree murder and possession of child sex abuse material on Wednesday, the day that the body of T’shey Bennett, 26, was found in a pond in an abandoned neighborhood in Mobile, Alabama, according to the announcement. The sheriff’s office said that Bennett “was working as an escort” at the time of her Dec. 14 disappearance and met Ellington at the Sweet Dream Inn in Pensacola, Florida.
The Independent , which spoke with Escambia Sheriff Chip Simmons, reported that deputies received calls from worried family members that day and headed to the Sweet Dream Inn, where she was thought to be staying. Once authorities arrived at the hotel, they found Bennett’s car outside. They also found two cellphones in the room and a PlayStation power cord believed to have been used in the killing.
They noticed the bedding had been removed as well. The Independent reported that surveillance video showed a suspect leaving the scene of the crime in a rental car. Authorities allegedly traced the car back to Ellington, identified as a marine stationed at Naval Air Station Pensacola.
Sheriff Jay Jones of Alabama’s Lee County reportedly said that Escambia authorities believed the suspect in Bennett’s killing “might be on a bus scheduled to stop” in.
