JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Three 16-year-old teens will likely be charged as adults in the murder, kidnapping and robbery of an Arlington woman last week, police said. Aaron Wright, Michael Workman and Keith Monford, all of Jacksonville, were charged Thursday with first-degree murder.
Mary Jane White, 55, was found bleeding and screaming for help at about 1 a.m. June 27 outside a building at Oakwood Villa Apartments on Kona Avenue. Police said the suspects approached White as she was trying to enter her Arlington apartment.
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According to the police report, the teens allegedly taped White's mouth shut, handcuffed her and forced her into the backseat of her car. They then drove her to Oakwood Villa Apartments, where Workman reportedly shot her multiple times when she started screaming and then robbed her of $200.
Wright turned himself in Wednesday and showed officers where the shooting took place, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
"I thought it was a nice complex," Workman's grandmother, Betty James, said of the apartment where Wright and Monford lived. "I didn't know what was going on there."
James, who lives with Workman, often drove her grandson to his friends' apartment, where he would stay for several hours. Neighbors and those who knew White told Channel 4's Jennifer Bauer that they were bothered by what happened, but even more bothered by the age of the suspects.
"It was next door to me," neighbor Vanessa Hall said. "So it was scary, very scary."
Wright reportedly went to police and told them what happened after his mother convinced him it was the right thing to do. Wright later implicated Monford and Workman in the crime.
"It's very sad that something like this happened to her," Hall said.
Wright and Workman also told police they had worked for White in the past.
The teens were being held Thursday at the juvenile detention center. Circuit Judge Aaron Bowden scheduled juvenile court arraignments for July 18.
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