JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 44-year-old convicted sexual predator smothered his 72-year-old employer in December and then buried the victim in a shallow grave behind a business on St. Johns Industrial Parkway, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Richard Greene has been charged with murder in the death of Clyde King, police said. Greene was already locked up for fraudulently running King's business, King's Lawn Service, when the murder charge was added Monday.
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Detectives found human remains behind a business at 11228 St. Johns Industrial Parkway in late January that were later identified as King's. Police said that King's remains had been in the shallow grave, which was just 3 miles from King's home on Bitternut Way near Sandalwood, for five or six weeks when they were found. The medical examiner determined King's death was a homicide and that he had been smothered.
According to police, Greene had worked for King's landscaping business, which King ran out of his home, for about 18 months and continued to run the business after King's murder. Police said Greene committed multiple crimes while running the business, including fraud, forgery and grand theft.
He was arrested and charged with those crimes in January and has been in jail since then while detectives continued to investigate King's death, which police say happened on Dec. 4 at his home.
Detectives said technology played a huge role in solving the murder, which they said was committed for financial gain.
Police said King was reported missing by his brother on Dec. 29 after the brother didn't hear from King around Christmas as he usually did. Greene, who wore an ankle monitor as part of his probation for a sexual battery conviction in Volusia County, was identified as a suspect in that missing-persons investigation.
Detectives worked with Greene's probation officer to track his movements through the GPS monitor, which led them to the location of the shallow grave and King's remains, police said.
JSO Chief Chris Butler said the GPS tracking also placed Greene inside King's home on Dec. 4. Evidence from King's implanted defibrillator showed three cardiac events within five minutes on Dec. 4, leading a cardiologist to declare that as the day of King's death, Butler said.
"He was in the ground for five to six weeks, so you have things that happen to the body, such as decomposition and everything, as well as building the electronic case that we had against (Greene), and also getting the defibrillator and getting a cardiologist to look at those results, so it takes a little time (to charge the suspect with murder)," Butler said.
Win First International is a global law enforcement training company. The owner of Win First International, Greg Difranza, said police have used the pinging of cell phones off towers to locate victims or suspects for years, but people committing crimes may not be thinking about those things.
"That by itself doesn't say that that particular perpetrator did that, but it does say when he was suffocated and his heart stopped, the defibrillator tried to restart the heart again so when you combine all the evidentiary technologies together that gives us a clearer picture and a better case for the prosecution," said Difranza.
When police questioned Greene about the remains in the shallow grave, he told detectives he found King dead, buried him there and continued to run the business, Butler said.
"It all comes down to financial motive on behalf of the suspect, financial gain for him," Butler said.
King's neighbor, Jovanna Zarate, said she would see lights on when they shouldn't have been in King's home after he was killed. She said the day after King died, his lawn care sign was suddenly reattached to King's truck. Police found King's cellphone hidden under a cushion inside the truck.
"He was a very nice guy, very sweet guy," Zarate said. "From my understanding he was very sweet to his workers, gave them a lot of privileges. I don't understand why anyone would want to hurt Mr. King. He was a sweetheart."
Greene, who made his first appearance on the murder charge in court Wednesday, also has a criminal history that includes drug charges and disorderly intoxication.