Inset: Sharon Getman and Darryl Getman (Mount Dora Police Department). Background: Vickie Williams during her murder trial in Florida (WESH).
A Florida jury on Tuesday convicted a woman who slaughtered a couple in their 80s at their home in a retirement community and then stole their car on New Year’s Eve.
Now that same jury will determine whether 53-year-old Vickie Williams will receive life in prison or the death penalty for slaying 83-year-old Darryl Getman and his 80-year-old wife Sharon Getman. Williams was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and theft of a motor vehicle.
The victims were found stabbed to death on Jan. 1, 2023, in the 300 block of Lake Margaret Circle in Mount Dora, an Orlando suburb.
Defense attorneys reportedly claimed Williams was mentally ill and was not legally responsible for the crime.
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But prosecutors, while acknowledging that the defendant had mental health issues, said she knew right from wrong and just wanted to steal the Getmans’ car so she could drive to her native Savannah, Georgia.
“She went to the Getmans’ house, stabbed them over and over, cleaned up, got keys, went to Savannah,” prosecutors said, according to a courtroom report from local NBC affiliate WESH.
Once in Savannah, she was apparently in a cheery mood and bragged about her new car when she showed up at her friend’s apartment.
“She busted out laughing,” her pal Fuller Blue told the court, per WESH. “She said everything was OK. She bought her a new car.”
Grisly details from the murder scene were revealed in a probable cause affidavit after Williams’ arrest.
Officers responded to two separate 911 calls reporting that two people had been killed at the Lakeside at Waterman Village Retirement Community.
Upon arriving at the scene, investigators said Sharon Getman — found in the entryway of the home with “a large amount of blood surrounding her” — had sustained severe head trauma.
There were white towels around her body that investigators said appeared “as if someone attempted to render aid or clean up” after she suffered her fatal injuries, authorities said.
Police also said there was “a large amount of blood from her abdomen which ran out and pooled behind her in the entryway.”
Darryl Getman also suffered “severe head and facial trauma” and was found on the ground with “a large butcher-style knife with a yellow handle” still “stuck up to the hilt in his abdomen,” police wrote. A second detective noted that there was a “large butcher knife in view” that had been “plunged” into his stomach, with only about an inch of the blade remaining visible.
Police found bloody footprints throughout the home leading to the garage, but the Getmans’ car was missing.
Using GPS tracking on Sharon Getman’s phone, authorities said they were able to track the car to a Georgia train station parking lot where Williams was arrested.
The sentencing phase of the trial kicks off on Thursday.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report
The post Woman who ‘busted out laughing’ after repeatedly stabbing couple in their 80s and then stealing their car faces the ultimate punishment after conviction first appeared on Law & Crime.
