A Sanford man who stole an acquaintance’s truck then ran down his girlfriend with it in Lake Mary has been convicted of second-degree murder, carjacking and other crimes.
A jury found TOIVANTE “TOBY’ WILLIAMS, 31, guilty on July 28 of killing Katrina Redden based on evidence and testimony presented during a six-day trial by Assistant State Attorneys Mitch Ruark, Domenick Leo and Paul Brill.
The acquaintance, Javier Martinez, testified that he was driving Williams and Redden, 39, around the Sanford area in a white Ford F-150 pickup the night of May 24, 2021. He said Williams turned angry, accused him of flirting with Redden, and began beating him inside the cab. Martinez said he escaped the truck without his phone, shoes or wallet. Security cameras later captured him walking in his socks along Hidden Lake Drive where he eventually reached a 7-Eleven store and asked to use a phone to call for help shortly before midnight.
Meanwhile, other security cameras showed the white Ford truck driving south toward Lake Mary. Around 11:40 p.m., a 911 caller reported hearing a man yell, “Get a ride now!” before seeing the truck run over the victim, Redden, near a parking lot. The driver then turned around and ran over the woman again, killing her.
At trial, Williams’ defense attorney pointed to an absence of traffic-camera photographs that could prove he drove the truck at the time of the murder. Williams had pointed the finger at Martinez in interviews with Lake Mary police.
However, prosecutors presented location data extracted from Williams’ mobile phone that placed him at both crime scenes at times that lined up with witness statements and surveillance videos.
“His phone tells you when he killed her,” Leo told jurors. “The defendant is trying to frame an innocent man.”
The phone data also matched Williams’ own description of driving the truck to Orlando and ditching it near the junction of SR. 417 and S.R. 408.
Because Williams had brought methamphetamine and a handgun with him the night of the murder, jurors also convicted him of trafficking methamphetamine (more than 14 grams) and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
And because Williams committed those crimes within three years of his release from a prior prison term, prosecutors successfully made the case to jurors that he should be sentenced as a Prison Releasee Reoffender. In Florida, that status brings tougher minimum mandatory sentences.
Williams now faces life in prison. Circuit Judge Jessica Recksiedler scheduled sentencing for Aug. 7.