JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man accused of killing his girlfriend and her uncle in a Southside mobile home in July has been indicted by a grand jury.
Thomas Joseph Brown was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder, dealing in stolen property and false verification of ownership.
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He appeared Friday afternoon before a judge, who ordered that he continue to be held without bond, pending his arraignment on Sept. 8.
Brown and his girlfriend, Amy Hatfield, 32, were arguing about money in her uncle's mobile home on Ascot Court and the fight became physical, police said.
Lt. Steve Gallaher said that Brown told police that he began choking Hatfield and then strangled her with a string that he tied around her neck. After he killed her, Brown went out to the living room and told Hatfield's uncle, Robert Massey, 59, what had happened, and the two began fighting, Gallaher said.
According to police, Brown pulled out a pocket knife and stabbed Massey until he died.
Massey's body was found by his roommate after the roommate returned from vacation, and when police searched the home, which is near the intersection of Hodges and Beach boulevards, they also found Hatfield dead.
Gallaher said Hatfield had come to visit her uncle from Pennsylvania with Brown, who fled to Georgia after the murders.
He was also wanted on warrants for burglary and probation violation out of Pennsylvania.
The Nissan Maxima rental car that Brown left town in had a GPS tracker, and Jacksonville police were able to follow it to Georgia. The U.S. Marshals helped locate and arrest Brown on July 12 at a drug treatment facility in Thomasville.
Brown was returned to Jacksonville and booked into the Duval County jail.