Police in central Florida arrested three people on Saturday and charged them in the deaths of a married couple killed 2 1/2 weeks ago, their bodies dumped into “a swampy area” behind their home.
Acting on a tip, deputies found the bodies of Raymond Mark Cline, 33, and Crystal Ann Cline, 37, on Friday, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said. Investigators learned that Amberlyn Nicole Nichols, who lived at the Cline residence with her boyfriend, had recently tried to sell Cline’s truck for $200, telling at least one person that the owner had been shot in the head, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said, according to WTSP.
One of the people Nichols approached about the truck went to police, who went to Nichols. Nichols led them to the badly decomposed bodies.
Nichols, 19, said the couple had been killed because Raymond Cline allegedly stole money from Todd Michael Jackson, who Nichols said is her stepfather.
Nichols reportedly told detectives that Jackson shot the Clines in the head while they were sleeping, and that her boyfriend, 19-year-old Larry James Walters Jr, helped Jackson pull an air conditioning unit out of the window and shove the bodies outside. Then, she allegedly said, they put the bodies on a furniture dolly and rolled them into the swamp.
Nichols and Walters admitted knowing about the murders, detectives said.
Judd said Jackson believed the Clines owed him about $30,000.
“This is one of those things that you know has to be true, because you just can’t make this up,” he said.
An unnamed witness was apparently also at the home when the shootings took place. That witness reportedly told police they saw Jackson point his gun at the victims and shoot them.
