An active-duty Marine has been arrested in connection with a grisly murder that saw a 26-year-old reality TV star wash up dead in a pond over 50 miles away from her last known location.
Willie Richard Ellington, 20, was arrested and charged with first degree murder in connection with the murder of reality TV star Tshey Bennett on Saturday, according to the Escambia County Sheriffs Office.
He was stationed at NAS Pensacola on Florida’s Gulf Coast and is now being held at Lee County Detention Facility in Oplikea, Alabama.
He also faces charges of possession of child pornography, as a result of his Thursday arrest.
Bennett, who appeared on season one of the HollyHoodTV series Skrippa Bootcamp earlier this year had been reported missing just days before police found her deceased body ditched in a pond over 50 miles away in Mobile, Alabama on Thursday.
The 20-year-old Marine is alleged to have murdered the then-missing Bennett, after the pair met up at the Sweet Dreams Inn in Pensacola at around 4 pm on Friday, police said.
Police believe Bennett was working as an escort at the time she met up with her alleged murderer.
Following the ‘suspicious circumstances’ surrounding her disappearance, investigators from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office began investigating her case as a possible homicide.
Willie Richard Ellington, 20, who was stationed at NAS Pensacola on Florida ‘s Gulf Coast, was arrested and charged with first degree murder in connection with the murder of reality TV star, Tshey Bennett on Saturday
Bennett, who appeared on season one of the HollyHoodTV series, Skrippa Bootcamp earlier this year, had been reported missing just days before police found her deceased body ditched in a pond over 50 miles away in Mobile, Alabama on Thursday
Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones praised the investigative efforts of his office and Escambia County and revealed that a tip-off led the responding authorities to the suspect.
‘Escambia County investigators tipped us off their suspect might be on a bus scheduled to stop in Opelika,’ Jones told WKRG.
‘Our team quickly scrambled to the station and set up a surveillance operation. When the bus arrived, investigators spotted and apprehended a man matching the suspect’s description.’
It was then that officials found Bennett’s body, who they believe was murdered in Northwest Florida before her body was strangely dumped in Mobile.
Police have not specified how Bennett’s body ended up in the pond nor did they reveal the exact cause and manner of her death.
‘Throughout the investigation, it was determined that Tshey Bennett was working as an escort and had met the suspect at the Sweet Dreams Inn at the time of her disappearance,’ police said in a statement.
The 20-year-old Marine is alleged to have murdered the then-missing Bennett, after the pair met up at the Sweet Dreams Inn (pictured) in Pensacola at around 4 pm on Friday
A close friend of Bennett’s, Muranda Newson, posted a heartfelt tribute to the 26-year-old mom and her son on Facebook: ‘I hate that I’m typing this. I hate that handsome boy who is hurting.
‘I really really hate someone did this to you baby you didn’t deserve this at all. So sweet so smart so about your money baby I just don’t understand,’ she wrote.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has not released further information regarding the case at this time.
