Man charged in Winter Park caretaker's kidnapping, murder

Jennifer Fulford reported missing Sept. 27

WINTER PARK, Fla. – The man accused of kidnapping and killing Jennifer Fulford, a Winter Park caretaker, in September, has been officially charged in her murder, Winter Park police said.

Fulford, 56, of Altamonte Springs, was reported missing Sept. 27 after her employer in Winter Park said she did not pick up his son from school. From the start of the investigation, Winter Park police said Fulford--a wife, mother of two and grandmother-- vanished "under suspicious circumstances."

Winter Park police announced Wednesday that Scott Edward Nelson, 53, faces charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, burglary, assault and battery, carjacking with a deadly weapon, robbery and tampering with a witness.

Fulford was last seen the day of her disappearance leaving her dentist's office in Winter Park. Her vehicle was found the next day in the parking lot of a Publix on Colonial Drive in Orange County and her body was found Sept. 30 off Apopka-Vineland Road, according to police.

Nelson was named a person of interest early on in the investigation after surveillance video showed him using Fulford's debit card at an ATM, detectives said. He was captured by local authorities at a Jacksonville hotel.

In October, Winter Park police filed grand theft and credit card fraud charges against Nelson. He had already been charged with violating his probation for armed robbery.

Nelson is in federal custody and has not been presented with the new charges, police said. A judge ordered Nelson to undergo a mental health evaluation in October.

Nelson recently sent a bizarre letter to Middle District of Florida Judge Anne C. Conway. He started out the letter, "Yo b----, it's me yo boy in dah joint..." and ended it by writing, "Ma'am with the utmost respect put me on a bottom bunk in a cell by myself."

[Read the letter from Nelson here. WARNING graphic language]

In the letter, he used racist profanity to describe his probation officer, whom he referred to as "Spike" and "the one-eyed wonder."

Throughout the letter, Nelson wrote about armed robberies he said he would confess to, to give the prosecution "a little extra fuel for the state of Florida death penalty case."

Nelson said in the letter that he hadn't spoken with law enforcement about Fulford's murder and that "there are many things they don't know."

"Did the police ever find the note wedged in the tree?" Nelson wrote. "Not very observant."


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