Autopsy: 92-year-old woman died from 'multiple sharp, blunt force injuries'

Men stole $70 for drugs from woman before burying her body, deputies say

LEESBURG, Fla. – The two men arrested Friday evening in connection with the murder of 92-year-old Rubye James are facing charges of robbery and first-degree murder, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Krystopher Laws, 21, and Joshua McClellan, 19, were denied bond during their first appearances before a judge Saturday morning.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office also released the arrest affidavits for both men Saturday morning.

According to the affidavits, deputies responded to James' home off of Edgewood Road in Leesburg around 3 p.m. Wednesday after a woman who said she checks on James at her home almost daily told deputies she hadn't seen her since Monday. The woman said that she had last spoken to James on the phone early Tuesday morning.

The woman told deputies that when she arrived at James's home, she found James' house slipper and glasses on the front porch, along with two plants lying on their sides instead of sitting upright, which was "very uncharacteristic for Ms. James' residence," the Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies said they found a large amount of blood at the front and throughout the home, along with drag marks.

The woman who checked on James told deputies that there should be a white car in the garage, according to the affidavit. Deputies said there was no vehicle inside the garage.

Just before 8 p.m., deputies said they received information that James' vehicle had been found at Snow Place in Leesburg.

Deputies arrived at Snow Place and found that James' vehicle had blood on the outside of it, the LCSO said. Deputies said they also found a knife sitting on the center console of the car.

The Sheriff's Office then conducted a walk with a K-9. Deputies said the K-9 made a positive alert on the trunk area of James' car. They then opened the trunk and found a "blood-like stain," but did not find James inside of the vehicle, according to the affidavit.

Detectives found tire tracks leading into a nearby wooded area, deputies said. The K-9 then conducted a track through the wooded area and found James' body, the Sheriff's Office said. 

James was taken to the Lake County Medical Examiner's Office, where an autopsy was conducted. The autopsy revealed that James' cause of death was "multiple sharp and blunt force injuries," and was ruled a homicide, according to the affidavit.

McClellan's mother brought both of the men to the Leesburg Police Department Friday night, where they spoke with detectives, deputies said.

The mother told detectives that her son and Laws found James' vehicle in a parking garage near a library in Leesburg and stole it, deputies said.

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McClellan admitted to detectives that he was with Laws when the vehicle was stolen, and that while inside the vehicle, he lent his pocket knife to Laws, who then cut himself and left blood in James' car, the affidavit said. Deputies said detectives showed McClellan a picture of a sweater that was found in James' home, which he identified as being Laws' sweater. McClellan also told deputies that he knew James because he had done lawn work for her, deputies said.

Detectives then spoke with Laws, who admitted that he and McClellan had walked to James' house to get money for drugs, the Sheriff's Office said. Once James opened the front door, the men walked in, struck James in the head, which caused her to fall to the ground, and stabbed her multiple times, according to the affidavit.

The men then dragged James' body to her car in the garage and placed her in the trunk before driving to Snow Place, where they buried her body in the wooded area behind McClellan's house, deputies said. 

Laws told detectives "they only got $70 cash from the residence," and that they had already spent it on marijuana.

Laws and McClellan are scheduled to go before a judge again March 6.


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