TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The surprise release of a probable cause document in the murder of a Florida State University law professor revealed more about the case than law enforcement officials would have liked.
The documents tie the murderer to the slain professor's ex-wife’s family.
Recommended Videos
Police said they combed through hundreds of thousands of lines of computer code, cellphone records, bus footage and more. A witness who helped the suspects rent a hotel room is considered a key to placing the suspects in the capitol at the time of the murder.
Sigfredo Garcia was transported from South Florida to the state Capitol late Wednesday afternoon. He entered a not guilty plea Thursday.
Minutes before the plea, a judge unsealed the probable cause affidavit leading to Garcia’s arrest. It shows Garcia and another man shadowing the professor in June and the day before his July murder.
Cameras on two city buses picked up the silver Prius used in the crime before and after the murder on the busy street leading to an upscale neighborhood.
The probable cause affidavit says security cameras in a health club saw the Prius follow the law professor into this parking lot, wait an hour, then follow him out, just minutes before the murder.
The affidavit also ties the ex-wife’s brother to the mother of the key suspect's children.
"It appears to be a very personal one," said Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo. "It appears to be a very personal relationship."
Police say they have not yet talked to the ex-wife or her brother.
"We’re not on speaking terms," DeLeo said.
DeLeo said Charles Adelson and Wendi Adelson aren't considered suspects right now.
"I don’t think we’re to that point yet," he said. "But we’re going to investigate every lead that we have, though."
A second arrest is imminent. Suspect Luis Rivera is currently in federal custody on unrelated charges.