Judge voices frustration over trial delays
ienj...@yahoo.com
By Jason Geary
The Ledger
BARTOW -- John Boyett says he's willing to take a polygraph test or
undergo hypnosis to show he doesn't know what happened when his second
wife disappeared more than a decade ago.
"I would love to," Boyett said in an interview Thursday from a county
jail in Frostproof. "I have nothing to hide."
A grand jury indicted the 39year-old Apopka man on Aug. 26, 2004, for
the second-degree murder of Andrea "Nicki" Boyett, who was 26 when she
was reported missing on Christmas Eve 1994.
A crucial witness, John Boyett's younger brother, says she was killed
and her body was thrown into an artificial lake at a local phosphate
mine.
The remains of the aspiring model and mother of three never have been
found.
John Boyett's trial was expected to begin Monday, but has been
postponed until next year. New witnesses have been discovered in the
case -- at least one because of publicity about the impending trial.
On Friday, Circuit Judge Roger Alcott agreed to provide more time to
question the new witnesses, but he expressed disappointment that a
trial would not get under way until next year.
"It's inconceivable for me that this all started back on August of
2004, and we are still fiddling around with it here in December 2005,"
Alcott said.
During Thursday's interview, John Boyett said he was looking forward to
beginning the trial and testifying on his own behalf.
"I would like to get this thing settled," he said.
Andrea and John Boyett grew up together on Eighth Street in the Eloise
community near Winter Haven. John Boyett said he started dating her in
September 1994. They got married on Oct. 10, 1994, and rented a house
in November on Eastway Drive in Lakeland.
Andrea Boyett was reported missing some time around late Christmas Eve
or early Christmas morning in 1994.
John Boyett said he didn't think it was right to charge him with murder
because authorities don't know whether Andrea Boyett is dead.
"They have no evidence on me except for people talking," he said.
Crucial witnesses in the case against John Boyett include his
34-year-old brother, Robert, and Andrea Boyett's 20-year-old son,
Dustin Cunningham.
Investigative reports provide details of these two witnesses' accounts.
Robert Boyett told detectives that his brother strangled Andrea Boyett
and demanded help disposing of the body at the Noralyn Mine south of
Bartow.
Robert Boyett said he went along with his older brother because John
Boyett threatened to shoot him if he didn't.
Cunningham told detectives that he remembered watching from his bedroom
window, sometime around late Christmas Eve or shortly after midnight,
as John Boyett choked his mother until she began to vomit and then
drove away with her.
The next morning, Cunningham, who was 9 when his mother disappeared,
said John Boyett ordered him and his two younger siblings to clean up
the vomit inside the car.
John Boyett told them that their mother ran away, Cunningham said. He
recalled John Boyett pawning his mother's jewelry and later abandoning
them at a baby sitter's home.
John Boyett said he wondered why his brother and Cunningham would wait
more than 10 years before speaking up to authorities. "I think the cops
are telling them what to say," he said.
But Polk Sheriff's Capt. Andy Ray denied that detectives ever told
witnesses what to say or otherwise acted inappropriately to solve the
cold case.
"We do not tell people what to say," he said. "We want to get to the
truth. We don't do that by putting words in people's mouths."
John Boyett maintains that he doesn't know what happened to Andrea
Boyett. "I don't really have a clue," he said.
John Boyett gave the following account of what happened on the night of
her disappearance:
Andrea Boyett went to pick him up at the Noralyn Mine where he worked.
He was upset with her because she had obviously been drinking. As he
was driving back, she appeared to be vomiting and got some inside the
car.
When they got home, the argument continued, but it didn't turn into a
physical confrontation.
Boyett said he did try to steady her from falling down, but he denied
choking her.
At one point, John Boyett said he went inside to speak to his father on
the telephone. "When I came back out, she was gone," he said.
John Boyett said he never pawned her jewelry, but did pawn a ring his
parents gave him.
He said he feels guilty today for leaving Andrea Boyett's children with
a baby sitter, but he knew they were better off there than with him.
At the time, John Boyett said, he was a drug dealer and addicted to
methamphetamines.
He said he was able to recover from his drug addiction and rebuild his
life because of his current wife, Melissa Ann Russ Boyett.
Prior to his arrest, John Boyett was raising his now 6-year-old son
with his 35-year-old wife. He was working as a mechanic and attending
the Word of Life church in Apopka.
When asked if he was ever violent toward Andrea Boyett, John Boyett
replied, "I don't think so."
Polk County Courthouse records show John Boyett has faced battery
charges before. He was also charged in a 1996 domestic violence case
where he pleaded no contest. No further information was available
Friday.
Detectives also said his current wife, Melissa Ann Russ Boyett, spoke
about once being choked by John Boyett when he was still on drugs,
according to investigative reports.
Jason Geary can be reached at 863-533-9079.