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New video evidence released in the death penalty case against Russell Tillis

Russell Tillis faces the death penalty for allegedly killing Joni Lynn Gunter on February 10, 2016. Tillis' former neighbors called his home a "house of horrors" and say he terrorized their community for years.

New evidence was released by state prosecutors on Tuesday in the case of a man accused of kidnapping and murdering a woman and burying her underneath his home.

Russell Tillis faces the death penalty for allegedly killing Joni Lynn Gunter on February 10, 2016. Tillis' former neighbors called his home a "house of horrors" and say he terrorized their community for years.

Victim's family speaks out about woman found dismembered in Tills backyard

Video of a JSO interrogation room shows Tillis talking to police in November 2007 about accusations of child abuse in March 2006. In court documents filed by an assistant state attorney, Tillis has been placed on notice that the interrogation video may be used as evidence in the current case against him.

According to the March 2006 police report, a minor female victim told police she was approached on 103rd Street by a man in a black pick up truck who offered her a ride. The man, later identified as Tillis, took her to a secluded area and threatened to kill her if she didn't undress, according to the police report.

The victim told police he forced her to have sex twice and then wiped his genitals with a paper towel and threw it out the window. JSO sent DNA samples from the victim's rape kit and the recovered paper towel to FDLE for testing.

Twenty months passed before FDLE sent a letter to JSO confirming the DNA was a match to a sample already on file for Russell Tillis, according to the report.

In the November 2007 interrogation video, officers ask Tillis if he had ever threatened to kill or hurt a woman for not doing what he said. Tillis, clean-shaven and dressed in a suit, appears calm throughout the interview. He admitted to police he enjoyed "picking up prostitutes" but denied remembering the female victim or knowing that she was a minor.

"The names really don't really mean much, you pick up a girl, you have sex with her, you drop her off, the name is irrelevant really," Tillis said in the interview video.

Tillis was arrested and charged with child abuse and sexual battery. He pleaded guilty to child abuse and was sentenced to five years in state prison. He was released in 2012, four years before he was charged with the most serious of his prior offenses--murder.

Tillis remains in jail awaiting his murder trial in the case of Gunter.

According to the court's docket, his next pre-trial hearing is scheduled for August 27. Jury selection is currently set for November 5.

First Coast News interview with Russell Tillis from jail

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