MACCLENNY, Fla. – A woman arrested and charged with murder broke down inside a Baker County courtroom Friday as she proclaimed her innocence.
Melinda Wilson, 48, was booked into the Baker County Jail accused of killing her friend, 69-year-old Dorsey Bennett, five days ago.
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Wilson cried and said she wasn't the one who killed Bennett inside his Sanderson home.
According to Investigators, Wilson and her boyfriend Stephen Arnold, 51, were both involved in Bennett's stabbing death.
Wilson has been charged with killing Bennett, and Arnold has been accused of being an accessory to the crime.
In an outburst that stunned the quiet courtroom Friday, Wilson said she didn't commit the crime.
"I did not do that. Steve, you better tell them the truth," Wilson said as a judge read the charges against her. "I was there, but I didn't do it."
Baker County Sheriff Joey Dobson comforted Wilson as she cried in the courtroom.
Family members found Bennett's body in his mobile home on Sunday afternoon.
"It was quite, quite brutal, and we were concerned, really, to get on it quickly and solve it because we certainly didn't want our community to be think we had some kind of person out here that would go over the county and do this again," Dobson said.
The sheriff said Wilson was one of the first people detectives talked to after the body was discovered, saying she and the victim were long-time acquaintances, but now she's accused of stabbing Bennett to death during a robbery.
Her boyfriend was charged as an accessory after-the-fact.
Family members from both sides attended the first court appearance, including three of Bennett's grandsons and Wilson's brother Jay Vining, who cried throughout the hearing.
Outside of the courtroom, Vining told Channel 4 he doesn't think his sister committed the crime.
"To be honest, I think it was a mistake. I don't think she could do it," Vining said.
Wilson is being held without bond.
Arnold is being held on $100,000 bond.
Previous Stories:
- August 18, 2006: Woman Charged In 'Brutal' Killing
- August 14, 2006: Baker County Man Dies In 'Violent Attack'
- August 13, 2006: Sheriff Calls Baker County Slaying 'Gruesome'