Publisher Marilyn M. Aciego was born and raised in Lake County and is a graduate of Umatilla High School and Lake-Sumter State College. She began her journalism career at LSSC and in 2023 she was honored with LSSC’s Distinguished Alumni Professional Achievement Award. She began working at the Daily Commercial while she was in college and continued her career there as a reporter after she graduated. In her 20+ year-career, she covered many of the area’s top stories including the disappearance of Trenton Duckett, the death of beloved Sheriff Chris Daniels, both in 2006 and an exclusive interview with then-Eustis Police Capt. Gary Winheim, who was ambushed and shot by a wanted felon in 2019. In addition to Inside Lake, Marilyn is the single mom of a teenaged son and the Florida Bureau Chief for an international media organization.
CLERMONT, Florida—Three Lake County men were arrested Sunday morning after a license plate reader alerted deputies that a vehicle involved in an Orange County carjacking was in Clermont, according to several arrest affidavits.
Shortly before 6:30 a.m. Sunday, Lake County Sheriff’s deputies were alerted that a green Kia Soul involved in an early morning carjacking was in the area of U.S. Highway 27 in Clermont. Deputies began searching the area and located the SUV and attempted a traffic stop.
Jason Curtis Marks, 21, of Lady Lake, put the Kia in reverse and “intentionally struck the front push bumper of a marked patrol vehicle,” the arresting deputy stated in the affidavit.
Marks then turned left, drove over a median and began driving southbound on U.S. Highway 27, fleeing multiple LCSO marked units. Marks was speeding and driving “recklessly” near U.S. Highway 27 and Margaux Drive in Clermont and struck another vehicle, flipping the SUV he was driving, according to the affidavit.
LCSO took Marks, and his passengers, Jonathan Joseph Belcher, 22, of Lady Lake and Sheldon Anthony Shields-Wright, 21, of Leesburg into custody. Upon searching the vehicle, LCSO found two handguns, one being stolen out of Lake County and Marks was found with a ski mask and was wearing a black glove; Belcher had blue latex gloves, the affidavit states.
Marks was arrested for grand theft auto, fleeing and eluding, two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer, possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a concealed firearm and resisting an officer without violence; he is being held in the Lake County Jail on no bond.
Belcher was arrested for resisting an officer without violence and possession of a concealed firearm; he is being held in LCJ on no bond.
Shields-Wright was arrested for resisting an officer without violence in this incident, along with armed carjacking in Orange County. He was released from LCJ Tuesday, and it is unclear if he is in custody in Orange County.
EUSTIS, Florida—The man found dead of a suspected overdose in a car Sunday afternoon has been publicly identified.
William Woodruff, 32, was found around 2 p.m. Sunday in a car at Walgreens, 101 West Ardice Avenue, Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri told Inside Lake. EPD officers found drugs and drug paraphernalia with Williams and his death appeared to be an overdose.
There was no evidence of foul play, according to Capri.
Publisher’s note: The following story contains graphic details. Reader discretion is advised.
MOUNT DORA, Florida—The Mount Dora couple found dead in their home in Waterman Village on New Year’s Eve was brutally stabbed and it was a gruesome and bloody scene, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Vickie Lynn Williams, 50, is accused of murdering Darryl Getman, 83, and his wife, Sharon, 80, sometime between the late hours of Dec. 30 and the early morning hours of Dec. 31. Williams was captured on video surveillance leaving Waterman Village property in the couple’s stolen green Kia Soul at 2:02 a.m. Dec. 31.
Darryl and Sharon Getman were found murdered in their home Dec. 31.
She was apprehended Jan. 2 in Savannah, Georgia, taken into custody and held in the Chatham County Jail in Georgia until she was extradited to Lake County Friday. Also, on Friday, Inside Lake uncovered video surveillance showing a woman who appears to be Williams interacting with Mount Dora Police officers at a local hotel on Dec. 30, just hours before the slayings.
On Dec. 31 just after 4 p.m., MDPD responded to two separate 9-1-1 calls and one caller stated two people had been killed, according to the affidavit. Officers arrived to find the garage door at 161 Lake Margaret Circle open and the couple’s SUV missing. Bloody shoe prints were observed on the garage floor and when officers enter the home, they found Sharon Getman in the entryway with a large amount of blood around her and several white towels, as if someone attempted to render aid or clean up, the detective noted in the affidavit. She suffered head trauma and lost a large amount of blood. Darryl Getman had severe head and facial trauma and a large butcher knife with a yellow handle was still in his abdomen when police found him; he also had defensive wounds.
Multiple knives were found around the kitchen area and numerous bloody footprints and shoe prints were found in the home and it appeared the suspect came out of her shoes during the attack, the detective noted. Crime scene investigators believed from the beginning there was only one attacker, and the attacker was female, due to the footprints that had a “very distinctive arch” the affidavit states.
A broken money clip with no cash was found on the center island in the kitchen, along with several credit cards. Sharon Getman’s wallet was found but her purse and cell phone were missing; the Getmans’ son told police his mother usually left her purse and phone in the Kia Soul, according to the affidavit.
“It appears the suspect attempted to clean up in the guest bathroom because there was a wet white and green in color washcloth with bloodstains and what appeared to be black, tight, curly hairs,” the detective noted in the affidavit.
Police viewed surveillance video from Waterman Village and an MDPD officer believed the suspect to be a local woman with an extensive criminal history. A BOLO (be on the lookout) was issued for the local woman, but when her photo was shown to several Waterman Village residents, no one picked her out of the lineup. Inside Lake is not naming the woman because she has not been charged in this case.
PHOTO: Marilyn M. Aciego/Inside Lake
The stolen Kia was picked up on license plate readers in Greenville, South Carolina and Hardeeville, South Carolina around 4:30 p.m. Dec. 31 and on Jan. 1 at around 6:45 p.m. a license plate reader hit on the Kia in Savannah, Georgia and again at 7:36 p.m., according to the affidavit.
An MDPD detective put a ping on Sharon Getman’s phone, and it pinged in several locations in Savannah. On Jan. 2, a Savannah Police officer located Williams and the Kia parked in a parking lot at an Amtrak station and she was taken into custody for grand theft auto without incident, the affidavit states.
A Savannah Police crime scene investigator processed and sealed the Kia and she found Sharon Getman’s purse, a coffee cup with what appeared to be a bloodstain and a similar stain on the outside of the vehicle; that stain contained a single strand of hair, the detective noted. A pair of white Puma slides, similar to the shoes Williams was wearing in surveillance video were found inside the Kia.
Two MDPD detectives and two Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agents traveled to Savannah to interview Williams on Jan. 3. She told investigators her name was “Victoreyah Coffee,” one of several aliases Williams has used in the past. Williams’ ex-husband’s last name is Coffee.
Williams told the special agents and detectives she was homeless and living out of a car and she was curious as to why Florida law enforcement officers were in Georgia. An FDLE special agent told her they were investigating the stolen vehicle she was located in.
Williams was read her rights and waived them and demanded a Georgia detective be present during the interview because she wanted everything “straight” between Georgia and Florida, the affidavit states.
Williams told investigators she was given the Kia by a friend named “Fuller Blue.” She said was walking in Savannah Dec. 31 when “Fuller Blue” approached her. She told him she was homeless, and he offered her the Kia, she said. She drove around for “a bit” and then parked the Kia at the train station where she stayed for several days, she told investigators.
She said in the interview, the two purses in the car belonged to her, along with the phone. She later changed her story and said her phone had been stolen on Dec. 29 or Dec. 30 and denied being in Florida or South Carolina. She was shown video surveillance from Waterman Village and said the shoes in the video looked like hers, “but lots of people have those shoes.”
Numerous items were taken for evidence, including jewelry, undergarments, clothing, a pink wig, tweezers, a watch and numerous DNA swabs.
Vickie Lynn Williams PHOTO: Chatham County Sheriff’s Office
Florida investigators requested a Canton, Ohio police sergeant contact Williams’ mother and son, who live in Canton, and they both identified Williams as the woman in the Waterman Village surveillance video and as the woman in custody in Savannah.
On Friday, an FDLE agent received a latent fingerprint report, and it identified a palm impression recovered from the Getman’s dryer as belonging to Williams; positively identifying her as being inside the couple’s home, the MDPD detective noted. Williams was extradited back to the Florida the same day and late that evening two charges of first-degree murder were added.
She made her first appearance in Lake County court Saturday, and she was ordered held without bond and appointed a public defender.
EUSTIS, Florida—A man was found dead in a vehicle Sunday afternoon in the parking lot of a Eustis business, and it appears to be a drug overdose Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri told Inside Lake.
The white male in his 30s, was found around 2 p.m. in a car at Walgreens, 101 West Ardice Avenue, Capri said. A family member of the man asked for a well-being check earlier in the day and EPD officers spotted the vehicle but were unable to pull it over and the car was later found in the parking lot.
Drugs and drug paraphernalia were found with the man and there is no evidence of foul play, according to Capri. His identity has not been released.
TAVARES, Florida—The woman accused of brutally murdering an elderly Mount Dora couple who was found dead in their home Dec. 31 made her first appearance in court Saturday morning, a week after the bodies were found.
Vickie Lynn Williams, 50, was soft-spoken as she answered Lake County Judge Emily Curington’s questions Saturday. Williams is facing two first-degree murder charges and a grand theft auto charge after being accused of killing Darryl and Sharon Getman in their home in Waterman Village and stealing their green Kia Soul. Williams was apprehended in Savannah, Georgia Monday and extradited to Lake County Friday.
Curington appointed Williams a public defender and scheduled her next court date for Jan. 30. Williams is being held without bond in the Lake County Jail. She was originally arrested just for grand theft auto, and two first-degree murder charges were added late Friday night; Inside Lake was the first media organization to report the added charges.
Inside Lake was the only media organization to discover Mount Dora Police officers interacted with a woman believed to be Williams at a Mount Dora hotel just hours before the murder.
Darryl and Sharon Getman were found murdered in their home Dec. 31.
TAVARES, Florida—Vickie Lynn Williams, the person of interest in the brutal slayings of an elderly Mount Dora couple is now facing murder charges.
Williams, 50, stands accused of killing Darryl Getman, 83, and Sharon Getman, 80, in their home in Mount Dora sometime between the late hours of Dec. 30 and the early morning hours of Dec. 31. Williams is suspected of killing the couple and fleeing in their Kia Soul just after 2 a.m. Dec. 31.
An alert was issued for the lime green SUV, and she was apprehended in Savannah, Georgia on Monday with the Getman’s vehicle and taken into custody. She was held at the Chatham County Jail in Georgia until she was extradited back to Lake County on Friday.
Vickie Lynn Williams PHOTO: Lake County Sheriff’s Office
When she was booked into LCJ, she was only facing a grand theft auto charge, but Inside Lake was tipped off that two charges of first-degree murder were added late Friday night. Inside Lake confirmed the charges with Lake County Sheriff’s Office online booking information.
On Friday, only Inside Lake released a video that appears to show Williams interacting with Mount Dora Police officers at Hampton Inn, 19700 U.S. Highway 441, Mount Dora on Dec. 30, just hours before she is accused of killing the pair.
Williams’ first appearance is scheduled for Saturday morning.
Darryl and Sharon Getman were found murdered in their home Saturday.
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.
Surveillance video showing a woman bearing a striking resemblance to the person of interest in the Waterman Village double slayings.
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.
Darryl and Sharon Getman were found murdered in their home Saturday.
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.
TAVARES, Florida—Vickie Lynn Williams, the person of interest in the murders of an elderly Mount Dora couple is back in Florida and being held in the Lake County Jail.
Williams, 50, was apprehended Monday in Savannah, Georgia driving the couple’s stolen Kia Soul, Mount Dora Police Chief Michael Gibson said earlier this week. She was extradited back to Lake County Friday afternoon, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Fred Jones. Her first appearance is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, Jones said.
Darryl, 83, and Sharon Getman, 80 were found murdered in their duplex home at 161 Lake Margaret Circle in Waterman Village after security personnel called 9-1-1 to report a “suspicious incident,” Gibson said. MDPD discovered the bodies and launched an investigation, and an alert was issued for the vehicle. Sources told Inside Lake the crime scene was gruesome.
Inside Lake received information Thursday that Williams had an interaction with MDPD officers at a local business Dec. 30, just a day before the bodies of the Getmans were found. Inside Lake worked all Friday afternoon to confirm the interaction and as of press time for this article, had not received an answer.
Darryl and Sharon Getman were found murdered in their home Saturday.
SAVANNAH, Georgia—The person of interest in the murders of a Mount Dora couple has been identified.
Vickie Lynn Williams, 50, of Savannah, Georgia was arrested just before 11:45 a.m. Monday driving the Kia Soul, owned by Darryl, 83, and Sharon Getman, 80. The couple was found murdered in their duplex home at 161 Lake Margaret Circle Saturday after Waterman Village security personnel called 9-1-1 to report a “suspicious incident,” Mount Dora Police Chief Michael Gibson said earlier this week. MDPD discovered the bodies and launched an investigation, and an alert was issued for the vehicle. Sources told Inside Lake the crime scene was gruesome.
Darryl and Sharon Getman were found murdered in their home Saturday.
Williams is being held in the Chatham County Jail in Georgia and only Inside Lake spoke with Chatham County Public Information Officer Parla Parker Wednesday morning. Information she released to Inside Lake states Williams worked at a Georgia senior living community and a nursing center in the last decade.
Numerous sources have told Inside Lake MDPD was originally looking for a local woman with an extensive criminal history and Williams was not a suspect until she was found with the vehicle.
MOUNT DORA, Florida—The son and daughter of the couple found murdered New Year’s Eve have released a statement on the murders of their parents.
Darryl Getman, 83, and his wife, Sharon Getman, 80, were found murdered in their duplex home at 161 Lake Margaret Circle after Waterman Village security personnel called 9-1-1 to report a “suspicious incident,” Mount Dora Police Chief Gibson said earlier this week. MDPD discovered the bodies and launched an investigation and Gibson asked the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for their assistance with the crime scene and forensics.
Their son, Anthony and daughter, Brittany released a statement Wednesday.
“We are stunned, devastated and heart-broken by the horrific murder of our parents. If there are words to describe what has happened and its impact to our family and the community, we have not found them. Mom and Dad had been residents of Mount Dora for over 20 years and truly loved the area. They were enjoying their golden years staying active and spending time with their many friends. We appreciate all the support we have received. It just shows how well thought of our parents were. We have every confidence in Chief Michael Gibson and the Mount Dora PD and Special Agent Lee Massie and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. They and their teams have worked tirelessly together and with other agencies to solve this crime. We look forward to a successful resolution. We humbly ask you to respect our privacy in this most difficult time and to allow law enforcement to complete their mission to solve this tragically unnecessary crime.”
A person of interest was taken into custody after she was found driving a lime green Kia Soul owned by the couple in another state Monday, Gibson said. She has been arrested for grand theft auto and will be extradited back to Lake County. She has not been charged with the murders yet and Gibson refused to release her name to reporters Tuesday.
