JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville man charged in connection with the murder of a Southside woman has pleaded not guilty to a charge of tampering with evidence.
Charles Rowlands, an ex-Uber driver, is charged in connection with the murder of 28-year-old Victoria Braddock, who was shot and pushed out of an SUV in the Southside Estates neighborhood. Braddock died on May 15 at UF Health Jacksonville shortly after she was found on Cortez Road at Brookview Drive South.
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Rowlands has not been charged in Braddock's death.
Witnesses told detectives that they saw Braddock get shoved out of a black Chevy Trailblazer heading north on Cortez Road, according to investigators. Rowlands owned the SUV, which JSO seized after Rowlands sold it eight days after Braddock died.
Investigators searched the SUV, which had been cleaned, and found trace amounts of blood in the carpet, on a side door panel, under a seat and in air vents.
The blood returned from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement forensics lab as a match for Braddock, and a detective testified that Braddock was killed by a shotgun blast to the head.
In June, a judge denied a request to drop the tampering charge, ruling that evidence presented at the hearing, such as the DNA analysis matching blood in Rowlands' SUV to Braddock, led to probable cause for the charge.
A search of Rowlands' house did not locate a shotgun, though there was a bill of sale for one. According to court records, two shells and a used shell casing were found in his yard. Police also found the man who sold the shotgun to Rowlands.
Rowlands is currently held in the Duval County Jail. His bail is set at $100,000 and a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Aug. 14.