Florida man might spend the next few decades in prison if found guilty over the accusation for allegedly killing a young woman, wrapping her body with tape and a rope, putting the remains into plastic bags and dumping the body in a nearby canal.
According to police reports, the main suspect in the case was identified as the 45-year-old E. Westergard who was arrested and charged with first-degree-murder. The victim was identified as the 23-year-old P. Damron and her dead body was discovered by the authorities last Monday.
The victim was reported missing on Sunday, a day before her body was discovered by the authorities, after the father of her child reported her in police since she couldn’t find it while their children was staying with him since Friday.
Police officers contacted her family relatives and friends, but everyone confirmed that no one spoke with her for more than a day, something that was now characteristic for Damron. Martin County Sheriff said in press conference, “Ms. Damron was extremely careful and a loving mother — and had not been in touch with the child since Friday.”
Authorities knew something was not alight and they opened an investigation for the case. They started the investigation and realized that Damron’s last known contact was with Westergard, who allegedly dropped her off at her home at approximately 11:30 on September 3. Westergard was identified in the affidavit as “the boyfriend of Damron’s mother, Tammie.”
Police obtained Damron’s phone records and the last signal she received on her cell phone was at Westergard residence. They immediately located the suspect and questioned him about the young woman. Meanwhile, police obtained a search warrant too that and they were able to check his vehicle where they found “a plastic ‘Publix’ style bag containing numerous white in color paper towels and baby wipes.”
He was immediately taken into custody and questioned by police later that day. According to the incident report, Westergard admitted that he spent the whole night with Damron, the night she was last seen. Westergard said he and Damron had been in an “intimate relationship for several weeks.” On September 4, he told investigators he and Damron had sex at her apartment and then returned to his residence later that day.
The fatal night, he took Damron once again at his residence and spent a several hours in his swimming pool. Unfortunately, at one point the woman fell and hit her head on a hand truck. As he saw the woman “unconscious and gurgling” outside his Palm Beach County home, the accused killer decided to get rid of the body instead of calling for help, he allegedly told investigators.
He admitted that he wrapped her body with tape and a rope, stuffed it into two 65-gallon bags along with some cinderblocks, loaded her into his truck and drove to Indiantown, where he dumped the dead woman into a canal.
Her cause of death remains under investigation, but authorities believe Westergard was responsible because he did not try to get medical attention and went to extreme lengths to dispose of her body.
Although authorities described the main suspect in the case as a “family friend”, it looks like that he started an intimate relationship with the daughter of his girlfriend that lasted for several weeks prior to her death.
The investigation is ongoing. The man was jailed and held in custody without bond. As soon as more details about the case are available, we will update the story.
