Charge added in St. Johns County murder case

Man awaiting trial in 2010 death of 45-year-old woman

Joseph Roberts appears in court on charges of first-degree murder.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A new charge has been added against a man awaiting a murder trial in the killing of a Ponte Vedra Beach woman in 2010.

Joseph Roberts is accused of killing 45-year-old Brittany Tavar (pictured below).

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The new charge against him stems from an incident in September in which deputies said he assaulted fellow St. Johns County jail inmate Richard Edsall, who apparently had become a witness in the case.

Roberts was arrested in Seattle three months after Tavar's killing. He confessed to beating Tavar with a hammer and stabbing her, deputies said.

Brittany Tavar

Roberts, a transient who had been living with Tavar, had made a DVD for her to use in a court case in which she was involved, an ongoing dispute with a neighbor.

Tavar and Roberts got into a fight over the DVD, and he killed her, deputies said.

Investigators found Tavar's body after they said Roberts confessed to killing her.