ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A grand jury indicted Joseph Roberts on Monday on charges of first-degree murder and grand theft of a motor vehicle in connection with the killing of 45-year-old St. Johns County woman Brittany Tavar.
Tavar was reported missing from her home on South Beach Drive on July 10 -- just days after she was seen leaving a party with 26-year-old Roberts.
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Her remains were found last month in a heavily wooded area of St. Johns County, days after Roberts was arrested in Seattle on a shoplifting charge.
Roberts was interviewed by detectives and admitted to killing Tavar and disposing of her body, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office. Her body was located based on directions and a map he provided to St. Johns County investigators, deputies said.
Roberts, described as a transient, had been living with Tavar.
According to an arrest report, Roberts said he had argued with Tavar about DVDs he made for her for a court appearance she had the next day, July 7. Roberts described to investigators hitting Tavar in the head several times with a hammer, saying, "She was still alive for a little while." He said he then cut her throat with a kitchen knife, according to the report.
Detectives said Roberts described spending the day cleaning up with bleach, throwing five or six trash bags in a trash bin and wrapping Tavar's body in sheets and trash bags.
The arrest report said Roberts told detectives he tried to put Tavar's body in the attic, but rigor mortis had set in and he could not lift her up, so he put the body in the back seat of her Rav4 SUV, waited until dark and drove to a wooded area off state Road 207 and left it. According to the report, Roberts planned on burying Tavar's body, but he said he could not because the ground was too hard to dig a grave.
He said he went back to Tavar's house and slept before taking off in her vehicle, according to the report. Tavar's dogs were found in South Carolina, and Roberts was spotted in Wyoming and Oregon before he was arrested in Washington state.
Investigators said that without Roberts' confession, it is possible they may have never found Tavar's body.
Roberts remains in the St. Johns County Jail without bond.