Tallahassee, FL: Killers Of Monique Washington Are Arrested!
Slimpickins
There's no telling how many more woman would have died a horrible death had
they not been caught.
Slim
Two charged in strangulation
Police: Monique Washington, 18, had the wrong friends
Graphic: What happened where
By Tony Bridges
Tallahassee Democrat
State investigators say a pair of brothers brutally strangled a Tallahassee
woman and two others last year - just so they could drive their victims'
cars.
The two are now charged in the deaths of 18-year-old Monique Washington, of
Tallahassee, and Helena Mills and Jo Anna Charles, of Orlando. Washington's
body was discovered in Wakulla County in October, a month after she
disappeared from her Tallahassee apartment. A month later, Mills and Charles
were found in the bathroom of their Orlando home by Mills' 13-year-old son.
All three women knew the brothers and Mills was reportedly a close friend of
their mother.
The two men - David Frances, 20, and Elvis Frances, 16 - are being held in
the Orange County Jail on first-degree murder charges. A Tallahassee woman
accused of helping them cover up Washington's death is being held in the
Leon County Jail, facing accessory charges.
The arrests came after six months of intense investigation by the Florida
Department of Law Enforcement, the Leon County Sheriff's Office and the
Wakulla County Sheriff's Office. According to court documents, the brothers
were tripped up by a Georgia traffic stop and betrayed by a friend who
finally cracked under questioning.
"It makes me feel a whole lot better," Washington's mother, Deborah Thomas,
said Monday. "It's sort of a release. I hope they're ready for their
punishment."
According to FDLE investigators, the killings began in September with
Washington.
She was a recent Wakulla High School graduate who moved to Tallahassee and
went to work with her mother at Wal-Mart. She met and befriended Melinda
Williams, another store employee, and by September, the two were planning to
be roommates.
She also met 20-year-old Tamika Jones, and through her, the Frances
brothers. They all spent a lot of time together, Williams says.
"Tamika was a real sweet girl," Williams, 21, said. "(The brothers) acted
like they were OK. They were just regular guys; they liked to get high and
hang out."
Washington disappeared Sept. 10 on a trip across town to move furniture from
her old apartment at Casa Cordoba on Ocala Road to the new place she would
share with Williams on Victory Garden Drive. Her car - a 1999 Honda - was
found two weeks later in northwest Tallahassee. Almost a month after she
disappeared, Washington's skeletal remains were discovered in a wooded area
in Wakulla County.
Holes in friends' stories
Investigators began questioning her friends closely. They soon found holes
in the stories Jones and the Frances brothers were telling. But all three
remained adamant they knew nothing.
Jones told her friends she had no idea what happened to Washington.
"She told me, 'I know you think I had something to do with it, but I swear
to God I wouldn't hurt her,' ” Williams said.
While Jones stonewalled, the Frances brothers headed south to Orlando where
their mother lives, investigators say. That's where they allegedly ran into
Mills, a family friend. Less than a month later, Mills and Charles, her
17-year-old niece, were found dead.
Missing from their home: some jewelry, a Sony PlayStation and Mills' Mazda
626. A month later, Elvis Frances was stopped driving the car near Atlanta,
according to arrest reports.
Orlando police say the brothers eventually confessed to killing Mills and
Charles. Court documents show David Frances said he strangled Mills, then
helped his brother finish off Charles. They pawned the jewelry and video
game machine, then used the car to joyride.
The brothers stayed in jail in Orlando while FDLE agents and sheriff's
investigators here kept trying to link the brothers to Washington's slaying.
Earlier this month, they brought Jones in for questioning again.
According to arrest reports, she finally broke down.
This is the story she and the Frances brothers eventually told: The day she
disappeared, Washington went to the apartment Jones shared with the two
brothers. She asked Jones and Elvis Frances to help her move furniture from
her old apartment to the new one.
They went with her and at some point, Elvis Frances allegedly told Jones he
was going to kill Washington, court documents show. He attacked her inside
the Ocala Road apartment and strangled her with the power cord from a VCR -
which Jones later pawned.
Later that night, David Frances allegedly helped his brother dispose of the
body. They used her car for nearly two weeks to make visits to Atlanta,
investigators said.
"I wish there was something else," FDLE Special Agent Michael Devaney said
of the brothers' motive.
Washington's mother says she's not sure what punishment she wants for the
brothers if they are convicted. Although they could receive the death
sentence, Thomas says she doesn't want anyone else to die.
"I'm going to miss her dearly," she said. "I'm going to get through it
because the Lord has brought me this far."