Pasco sheriff: Missing girl's body found dumped

Good afternoon. Over the course of the last couple of days, the Pasco Sheriff's Office has been investigating two separate cases that have brought us here today to talk about just a terrible, terrible outcome. Over the course of Sunday, Sunday morning around 7 o'clock a.m., the Sheriff's Office received a call of a missing person. The family members had indicated that a A young lady. age 16 had been missing from home and they reported her as missing. The sheriff's office immediately initiated an investigation over the course of several hours. The sheriff's office tried diligently to try to locate her. Unfortunately, around 1120 we received another phone call and that phone call was a call of a body on the side of the road over by the area of 16500 Creela Drive in Spring Hill. Sheriff's office responded to that call. Upon arrival, we identified a young woman. She was deceased, and she was about 15 feet off the side of the road. Detectives were immediately called. Detectives responded to the scene. Over the course of a few hours, it was readily apparent to the detectives that the young woman on the side of the road was indeed the same woman that had been reported as missing at 7 a.m. So over the course of the next several hours, detectives were on the scene to process the site itself on Creela Drive. But other detectives quickly identified a suspect. In talking with friends and family members, we quickly identified a person by the name of Robert Anthony Timmons as somebody to talk to. Timmons was identified as a boyfriend to this young woman. And there were concerns about the nature of the relationship that he and this young woman had. Family members had characterized it as tumultuous, toxic, and some other types of characterizations. So over the course of the hours during the investigation, detectives were able to locate some video that had a vehicle that Mr. Timmons had been associated with, and we were able to find Timmons himself. At that point, detectives went to him and started talking about what had occurred over on Creela Drive and what his knowledge was of where Victoria Perez was. So over the course of that time, Timmons initially lied to the investigators, and he said he had little knowledge. And then during the course of the investigation, detectives who were at the scene of where the young woman had been murdered We're able to communicate with detectives who were interviewing Timmons. They provided information that was important so that the detectives could continue their line of questioning of Timmons. Ultimately, Timmons acknowledged that he did indeed have knowledge of where this young woman was, that he went to her. apartment complex where she lives with her family and that he had picked her up. They got into the car together. There was an apparent argument. It turned ugly. And then the vehicle is seen in the video driving deeper into the apartment complex. Ultimately, during the course of the interview, Timmons acknowledged that he was carrying a gun. By his own admission, he said that the gun was sitting in his lap. He also said that during the course of the argument with the murdered woman, he produced the gun and ultimately there was a shot to the left side of her head which killed her. After he murdered this 16-year-old girl, he took her around the back of where this apartment complex was and he callously dumped the body 15 feet off the road and then he left. So at this point, the detectives have Timmons in custody. He's been arrested. And at this point also, we pray for the family in the memory of this young woman who was taken so callously, so viciously by this person. And we continue to do some crime scene processing. We have a vehicle in custody right now that we're processing. We have an apartment an apartment within the complex that we're processing for further evidence and we also have an area of water where we believe based on what Timmons had told us we believe that the gun may be located. There are other pieces of evidence that were collected that he identified as the only person who would know where it was as the person who committed the murder and he told us where that evidence was and we have since collected it. So at this point, the investigation continues and I'd just like to point out that the deputy at the initial scene for the call for the missing person did a tremendous job trying to find her and check on her welfare. The detectives who took over the scene of both investigations yesterday did an exceptional job. Their skills with interviewing and collecting digital evidence and other forms of evidence were just expertly done, and this all resulted in clearing this case with an arrest in relatively quick fashion. Ladies and gentlemen, these types of things are all too often taking place in our communities, and just know that there are resources out there to help people, families, deal with domestic violence. And to help to deal with stress when people need help, so please, take advantage of what those resources may be. This was a tragic, tragic event, and we have a 16-year-old young woman who will never see her 18th birthday, and that is just a terrible, tragic outcome. So if there are any other questions about any of this? What was the argument about in the car? Did he explain what was going on? As conveyed to us, the relationship has a history of being rocky, toxic, and tumultuous. This was just another continuation of that type of relationship. She entered the car with him, and it just, it turned violent, and from there it went, turned into a murder scene. Had it ever gotten violent previously? Had anybody ever gone to authorities? So there's no indication that there had been violence in the past at this point anyway? We're unaware of anyone who has reported violence associated with this relationship, but just because there's not reported violence leading up to something like this, it doesn't mean that there isn't a propensity for violence to take place in a toxic relationship. Sure, just to be expressly clear, can you speak for me, Perez? Yes, unfortunately, that's confirmed. And that's where the two cases come together. The missing person. And we had asked our community to help us identifying her. And unfortunately, those two cases came together on the side of the road. 19. I don't have that information. I don't know that at this point in the investigation. Sure. What can parents, what signs can they look for? What conversations should they have if they think that their child might be in a situation similar to this? By all accounts, her parents were engaged. They were trying to get help. They were taking steps to try to insulate her from that type of relationship that she was in. But the best thing that any parent can do as a parent of a young daughter myself, just communicate, be engaged, be caring, listen. Sometimes people just want to hear, just want somebody to talk to and be there for them. And we're never too busy when our children or our loved ones have something that they want to talk about. And sometimes just being able to listen to somebody, that can mitigate a whole lot of problems. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.