MOUNT DORA, Florida—Only Inside Lake discovered Mount Dora Police officers interacted with a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the person of interest in the slayings of an elderly Waterman Village couple just hours before their stolen SUV was driven off Waterman Village property Saturday, however, City of Mount Dora Spokesperson Vershurn Ford refused to confirm or deny it was her to Inside Lake Friday after multiple calls and emails to the city.
The woman, who bears a striking resemblance to Vickie Lynn Williams, 50, walked into Hampton Inn, 19700 U.S. Highway 441, Mount Dora, shortly before 12:45 p.m. Dec. 30, made herself a cup of coffee in the lobby, and began wandering around the hotel; a short time later, she was found by an employee sitting on the stairs crying and complaining her stomach hurt, sources told Inside Lake. The employee offered to assist the woman or call an ambulance and she refused.
The woman wandered the hotel until she found a room on the third floor that was open due to housekeeping, surveillance video shows. She entered the room and closed the door and employees called MDPD for assistance. Officers found the room she was in, and first she refused to come out. While police were outside the door, she called the front desk and reportedly said she would be out of the room in “10 minutes,” according to a source. She exited the room a short time later; it is unknown what the woman may have done in the room because it had not been cleaned yet, and was cleaned shortly after she left, sources said.
She approached a Hampton Inn employee for a ride as she exited the hotel and was denied, sources told Inside Lake. She is then seen on hotel surveillance video walking off hotel property at 1:39 p.m. northbound on U.S. Highway 441, the same direction as Waterman Village.
A little more than an hour after the woman left Hampton Inn, at around 3 p.m., Williams was found by Waterman Village security and escorted out through an opening in a fence, MDPD Interim Chief Michael Gibson said earlier this week. At 4:14 p.m. she was captured on video surveillance on Lake Margaret Circle, the same street the Getmans lived on and shortly before 11 p.m. she went to an apartment on Lake Margaret Circle, knocked on the door and asked the female occupant if she could take a shower. That woman refused and Williams stole a set of keys and fled.
Just hours later, at 2:02 a.m., surveillance video at Waterman Village captured Williams driving the Kia Soul that belonged to the victims off Waterman Village property, according to authorities.
Darryl Getman, 83, and Sharon Getman, 80, were found slain shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday in their home at 161 Lake Margaret Circle in Waterman Village, a senior living community. Security personnel reported a suspicious incident to MDPD and when they responded, the bodies were found, Gibson said.
An alert was put out for the couple’s vehicle, and it was pulled over in Savannah, Georgia Monday morning. Williams was apprehended and taken into custody on a warrant for grand theft auto. She was extradited back to Lake County and her first appearance is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Fred Jones.
A Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent was at Hampton Inn Thursday interviewing employees about the incident while Inside Lake was there gathering information. Inside Lake reached out to Mount Dora Friday to request information about the call to Hampton Inn, and Ford, the city’s spokesperson, said the details are part of the investigation and could not be released at this time. He also refused to positively identify the woman as Williams.
Inside Lake was the first media organization to find out about the murders Saturday night, it was nearly 14 hours before the city released any information.
