-
Mar 21, 2008 9:09 am US/Eastern
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
No Bond For Man Accused In Attorney's Death
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
The man accused of murdering his estranged wife's best friend and then dumping her body in a Plantation canal will be staying behind bars in Broward County jail.
Thursday morning, a judge denied bond to 44-year old Tony Villegas who is accused in the murder of 39-year old attorney Melissa Britt Lewis. Villegas, who appearance in court via closed circuit camera only lasted a few seconds, was charged with first degree murder in Lewis' death.
CBS4 Joan Murray learned that the late Lewis sent out an email soliciting information pertaining to wills for a friend, referring to Debra Villegas, who was going through a divorce with the suspect. She was inquiring about questions over her children if she died. Lewis referred to the suspect as 'nuts' in her message dated December 20th.
Some of the text says,"How hard is it to do a will? My friend Debra is going through a divorce. Her ex-husband is nuts. To be on the safe side, she wants to be sure she designates who gets her children if he hurts her and goes to jail. Seems extreme, but you have no idea what is going on and restraining orders are worthless." Villegas was arrested last Saturday at his sister's home in Miami.
Earlier this week in a Miami Dade courtroom, Villegas' attorney Michael Walsh, waived the extradition hearing, saying his client could not wait to return to Broward to prove his innocence.
"We want to get him up there as quickly as possible so we can show that he was set up," said Walsh.
Monday Plantation Police reported that forensic tests indicated Lewis died of strangulation.
"We have overwhelming evidence that has led us to him," said Plantation police detective Phillip Toman. "Our lead investigator referred to this as good old fashioned police work."
According to Walsh, police reportedly have several pieces of evidence against Villegas, which they plan to argue was planted to make him look guilty.
CBS4 has learned that evidence against Villegas includes one of Lewis's stolen cell phones that police tracked to an apartment where Villegas had been staying. Investigators also reportedly found a Google search for the words 'pepper spray' on Villegas's computer. Villegas's attorney said his client received a call from someone after the murder, a person he's refused to identify, who asked how to get pepper spray off the hands.
Plantation police investigators said they found pepper spray inside garage of Lewis's home; they believe Villegas killed her inside the garage and then dumped her body in a canal near Pine Island Road and State Road 84.
Police said that Villegas's landlord said he was washing his arms, trying to get rid of pepper spray.
According to other evidence CBS4 learned about, a neighbor says Villegas asked him if he knew how to wash off pepper spray, because he was doing some cleaning at his house and accidentally sprayed himself.
Police have not released a motive as to why Villegas may have killed. Lewis worked with Villegas' estranged wife, Debra, at the law firm of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler in Ft. Lauderdale.
Villegas's sister, Irada, said her brother was a wonderful man, a wonderful father, who has never been in trouble with the law. One of Villegas's long time friends, Luis Castineiras, said he can't believe Villegas could have committed the crime. He said 3 days before his arrest, he talked with Villegas about going to an auction to look at a motorcycle he was interested in purchasing. He said it was a normal conversation about 'guy stuff' and there were no hints that anything was wrong.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Popular Sports Pages on CBS4.com