JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Final pretrial motions were heard in a Duval County courtroom Monday morning for a man accused of killing the wife of a Navy member whom he met on Craigslist.
The trial for 20-year-old David Sparre is set to begin next Monday. It will be a death penalty case.
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Police said Sparre, of Georgia, and 21-year-old Tiara Pool communicated online in August 2010. Then in July, Sparre drove to Jacksonville to meet Pool.
Authorities said the two met and went to Pool's Hodges Boulevard apartment, where Sparre stabbed her to death. Police said Sparre stabbed Pool 89 times.
According to court documents obtained by Channel 4, Sparre told investigators he was in Jacksonville the weekend Pool was killed to visit his mother at St. Vincent's Hospital. Surveillance video does place Sparre in the lobby of the hospital, but the video also shows Pool meeting him there.
Court records show that DNA found on the knife used to kill Pool matched that of Sparre.
Investigators said they believe that after killing Pool, Sparre went back to the hospital, and even sent two text messages to the victim's phone after her death, saying "don't bother coming i can't leave" and "guess you're mad at me."
Pool's car was found near the hospital.
Investigators also said Sparre burned the clothes he was wearing when he killed Pool. Police said they found pieces of the clothing among the ashes.
Weeks after the killing, the U.S. Marshals Service found Sparre at a relative's house in South Carolina and arrested him on a charge of murder.
According to police, Sparre admitted to killing Pool but did not say why.