World
December 6, 2024 11:30
florida - The police in St. Petersburg, Florida, have arrested a man accused of shooting his ex-girlfriend dead over three years ago, thanks to an old TikTok video.
On July 31, 2021, Benjamin Robert Williams (41), also known as Bambi, fatally shot his ex-girlfriend Joana Peca (27) while she was seated in her parked van. She had her 4-month-old baby on her lap at the time, with her 4-year-old son watching from the backseat as his mother was killed.
On Tuesday, the police announced that they had arrested Williams last week in Mexico City, following a three-and-a-half-year search. Authorities received an anonymous tip from someone in Mexico who recognized Williams in an old TikTok video and knew his whereabouts.
The video, a news report from Florida about the murder, was posted on TikTok on August 10, 2021, just ten days after the fatal shooting, by Jasmeen Alexander, who has over 2.8 million followers on her crime-focused account. The anonymous tipster only saw the footage on November 27 of this year.
Alexander revealed to FOX 13 News that investigators had approached her to inform her that her video had aided in solving the case. 'It's crazy, inexplicable,' Alexander said. 'It just had to be that way, I think. You really can't explain it.'
Following his arrest, Williams was extradited to the United States and incarcerated in Pinellas County Jail.
Eleni Peca, Joana's mother who is now the guardian of her two grandchildren, was overwhelmed with emotions upon hearing that her daughter's killer had finally been apprehended. 'I can't explain the feeling I had at that moment. It was a mix of joy and pain,' she said at a press conference. 'Oh my God, oh my God, I thought. 'Are you sure?' I was pacing back and forth in the house.'
'A dangerous criminal no longer poses a threat to the community and, more importantly, to the Peca family,' said Anthony Holloway, Chief of Police in St. Petersburg.