John Jefferson
Top inset: LaDonna Williams (GoFundMe). Bottom inset: Nathaniel Slade (Jacksonville County Sheriff). Background: the home where Williams’ body was found (WTLV/WJXX).
A Florida man will spend the rest of his life in prison for stabbing his former boss, who had been trying to help his girlfriend get out of an abusive relationship, and burying her body in his backyard.
Nathaniel Slade, 43, learned his fate on Friday in the killing of LaDonna Williams, 41, State Attorney Melissa Nelson announced in a press release. He was found guilty in September of second-degree murder.
According to the arrest report, authorities said they learned through Slade’s girlfriend that he stabbed Williams in February 2022 in the chest and forced the girlfriend to put her body in the trash can, telling her, “I had to do what I had to do. She was disrespecting me.”
Williams slept in the rented Jacksonville home for weeks while her body was in the trash outside the window, prosecutors said at trial.
“Buried her in the trash can and then slept with her body outside of his bedroom window for some period of weeks before he left the house,” said Brooke Milo, Assistant State Attorney for the 4th Judicial Circuit, local CBS affiliate WJAX reported.
The case came to light after Williams’ son filed a missing persons report after she hadn’t responded to his birthday messages for her 41st birthday at the end of February. He said he then received suspicious text messages from her cellphone number asking him for money.
Suspicious of the request, he asked the person who sent the message to answer questions about his youth and personal life that his mother would know, which the sender of the message could not answer, the arrest report said.
“I was stressed out all the time, really,” the son told local CW affiliate WJXT. “I would think about her constantly. I would look for her. I would try to ask for help.”
Her remains were discovered on April 20, 2022, when a homeowner cleaning a backyard found a box and called Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office dispatch. Investigators unearthed a trash can containing human remains.
Williams’ son told WJXT his mother supervised Slade, who did home repairs.
“I met him plenty of times,” said Williams’ son. “I would always go to my mom’s job sites and talk to him and say, ‘hi,’ to everyone and help my mom sometimes.”
Before she was killed, Williams was trying to help Slade’s girlfriend get out of an abusive relationship with him, WJAX reported.
Slade is already serving a life sentence for attempted first-degree murder, armed burglary, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in an unrelated case. Slade pleaded guilty to all charges on Jan. 8 and was sentenced for those crimes on Feb. 15, prosecutors said.
Williams’ GoFundMe said she was an independent, strong, motivated woman and mother.
“She lived life day by day ready for whatever God had planned,” the page said. “She was the grandmother of two, soon to be four. She was a daughter, sister, aunt, cousin and friend to many. She was loved by everyone she met and kept faith in her heart. One thing nobody ever prepares for is the death of a loved one, especially their own mother.”
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