GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – Clay County deputies responding to an unusual 911 call in April from a man who said he’d done “horrible things” had no idea the scene they would discover inside a Green Cove Springs home.
An older couple inside had been held hostage for more than two days with their arms, legs and faces bound with duct tape. They were extremely dehydrated, covered in feces, malnourished and suffering from infections and lesions, according to the arrest report for the man who’d made that 911 call: 46-year-old Aubrey Lumpkin.
To listen to Lumpkin’s 911 call, press play below. Warning: The audio includes coarse language.
But Lumpkin apparently had more he needed to get off his chest.
According to court documents obtained by News4JAX, Lumpkin admitted to killing his girlfriend two years earlier and showed detectives where he’d buried her body — in the woods behind the same property where they had just rescued the two hostages.
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According to a neighbor, Lumpkin previously lived next door to the couple and was staying with one of their relatives.
A few days after Lumpkin’s confession, court documents show that deputies discovered human remains April 15 in the area Lumpkin had pointed them to. The remains belong to a woman, but investigators are not identifying her because the family has invoked Marsy’s Law.
Lumpkin is now charged with manslaughter and tampering with evidence in connection with that woman’s death. He appeared before a judge Thursday morning on the new charges and was ordered to be held on $300,006 bond.
“When the state is looking at the evidence and they have a death and no witnesses and he is simply telling the story of what happened, it may be easier for them to proceed in a situation where they go for the lower charge that they know they can prove based on his own testimony rather than trying to prove a higher charge with no witnesses,” said attorney Shannon Schott, who is not affiliated with the case.
Lumpkin is also facing charges of home invasion, false imprisonment, and other felony charges in connection with the hostage case.
According to court records, during an interview with investigators April 11 at an Orange Park substation, Lumpkin said he got into a fight with his girlfriend two years ago and hit her in the head and face several times, knocking her hard to the floor. He said she stopped breathing, and he tried to perform CPR on her, but he couldn’t resuscitate her.
Lumpkin told investigators he waited about 45 minutes, and then dragged her body about 100 yards into the woods before burying her naked.
Investigators said Lumpkin admitted that he never called 911 to alert paramedics or the police.
According to the medical examiner, the woman’s cause of death could not be determined. The medical examiner did find trauma to her neck, face and mouth area.
Lumpkin also confessed to investigators that after his girlfriend’s death, he assumed her identity in text messages and social media communications with her parents to try to get them to wire him money, the court records show.
Lumpkin will next be in court on the manslaughter case July 11.