KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Kissimmee detectives have arrested the estranged boyfriend of a woman who was found dead Monday next to a dumpster.
The victim's body was discovered next to a dumpster at CenterState Bank on West Oak Street by someone from the cleaning crew for the bank who was taking out the trash.
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Cleaners for the bank said the body was not there on Aug. 4, the last time they took the trash out. Police said the victim had been there for some time and had cuts on the top of her head and black eyes. She was partially covered with a blanket, according to the report.
The victim has been identified through fingerprinting, but her name is not being released by law enforcement at this time.
Kissimmee detectives said they reviewed surveillance video for the bank parking lot and a man was seen on Aug. 5 dragging a woman to the dumpster enclosure and later carrying a sheet or blanket and leaving the area without it.
After distributing photos of the possible suspect around the area, detectives were contacted by someone at The Daily Bread, a ministry that provides meals and services to the homeless, who said the man looked like Fletcher Sims, 57, a regular visitor to The Daily Bread on Union Street.
Detectives learned the victim had been a patient at Osceola Regional Medical Center the week prior and that Sims had visited her, showing his Florida identification. Sims was also listed as the victim's emergency contact, hospital records show. She was discharged on July 31, according to the report.
Sims was brought in for questioning Tuesday night by Kissimmee police detectives. He told detectives, according to the report, that he and the victim dated for several months, but he hadn't seen her in four days.
After police presented photos of him at the dumpster and said they had evidence he killed the victim Sims said he was sleeping near the bank on Aug. 5 when the victim woke him up by "lightly" kicking him in the head and calling him a racial slur. Sims then told detectives he "snapped and began to punch (her) in the face," continuing to beat her after dragging her to the dumpster area, according to the report.
Sims told detectives that when he left the woman she was breathing heavy and unresponsive. He was placed under arrest Tuesday night at the end of the interview.
Sims is charged with first-degree murder and held in the Osceola County Jail without bail.