JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man accused of killing his girlfriend and dumping her body in a San Marco lake did not commit the crime, according to a court filing in the case.
Instead, the filing says, she was killed by a man she'd just shot in the abdomen.
On Monday, prosecutors agreed to drop murder charges against Dedric Wesley, who’s been in jail since August for the murder of 23-year-old Beverly Febres. Court records show two other men are now accused in her death and, according to what Wesley’s attorney calls “the undisputed facts of the case,” both have confessed.
Febres, a mother of two, was found July 12, floating in Marco Lake, just blocks from busy San Marco Square. She had been shot twice in the head. Her car was found days later on Blackard Road in Arlington with the passenger seat “covered in blood," according to police.
A warrant for Wesley’s arrest said Febres’ phone showed she’d recently been in 8100 block of Alderman Road in Arlington, where Wesley lived. It said he purchased a new phone soon after Febres’ death, telling the phone salesman he wanted to suspend his account because his girlfriend had stolen his phone and he didn’t want her get his calls and texts.
A motion to dismiss the murder charges filed last month details an alternate narrative, one that does not implicate Wesley.
It says the shooting followed a fight at the home of a man named Kamaree Singleton between Febres and woman only identified as “V-dub.” After the altercation, the filing says Febres went to her car, got a gun, shot Singleton once in the abdomen and then fled.
The motion says in a police-controlled call with Wesley, a man named Corey Ellis “admitted to helping Mr. Kamaree Singleton transport and dispose of [Febres’] body. Additionally, Ellis admitted to following Mr. Singleton in [Febres’] vehicle until it was abandoned at 7013 Blackard Road.”
The motion says after the shooting, Ellis left on foot and, about 10 minutes later, Febres drove back to Singleton's Amazon Avenue home. Ellis told police he saw Singleton walk out of his house with a gun and heard two shots. When Singleton returned to the house, the motion says, he told Ellis he’d shot Febres and “they needed to leave. Mr Ellis proceeded to follow Mr. Singleton to San Marco where Febres’ body was dumped.”
According to the motion, Singleton also later confessed. Ellis is being held on charges of evidence tampering. Singleton has been in jail on unrelated charges since July, but has not yet been formally charged with the murder.
At a disposition hearing Monday, Wesley pleaded guilty to evidence tampering and giving false information to police. He was sentenced to time served and is due to be released from jail today. A condition of his probation is that he must provide truthful testimony against Ellis and Singleton.