Woman helps boyfriend kill her ex when he finds out they’re together, Florida cops say
A woman and her new boyfriend conspired to kill her ex who wanted to confront them about being in a relationship, then they fled the state, Florida authorities said.
The couple has now been booked in the Escambia County Jail four months after deputies say Larry Spires III was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds in Pensacola.
The investigation traces back to the events of Sept. 20, when Spires met up with a woman he had begun seeing casually, she told deputies, according to an Escambia County arrest affidavit.
He brought up his ex-girlfriend, 21-year-old Desirae McCants, and the woman told him McCants was now seeing a man named Derrick Stewart, who’s 27, deputies wrote in the affidavit.
The woman said Spires wanted to call McCants to see if this was true, and the woman recorded a video of him confronting his ex-girlfriend over the phone, deputies said. He told McCants he was going to go to her house and would call her when he got there, according to deputies.
The woman he was with tried to convince him not to go, she told investigators.
Spires left anyway and drove to McCants’, where surveillance footage shows two people who match the description of McCants and Stewart waiting in a car, according to the affidavit.
Cell phone data showed Spires called McCants, then Stewart was seen getting out of the vehicle, walking up to Spires standing outside his own car and shooting at him three times, deputies said.
Stewart was seen on video running back to McCants’ car, then they sped off together, investigators said.
“Due to the immediate flight of the suspect vehicle … it is apparent that the vehicle and driver were pre staged to flee the scene after the homicide occurred,” deputies wrote in the affidavit.
Cellphone geolocation data shows McCants and Stewart drove from Pensacola to Atlanta that same day, according to investigators.
Three days later, the vehicle was found at an apartment complex in the Atlanta area, deputies said.
A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office told McClatchy News on Jan. 17 that while the couple has had arrest warrants since September, the boyfriend and girlfriend weren’t found “until this week in Escambia County.”
Stewart was booked in Escambia County jail Jan. 15 on charges of second-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm, records show. McCants was booked that same day on a principal to second-degree murder charge.
McCants’ attorney, Randy Etheridge, told McClatchy News he was confident his client would be acquitted.
Stewart’s attorney information wasn’t available Jan. 17.
Pensacola is in the Florida Panhandle.
This story was originally published January 17, 2025 at 11:09 AM with the headline "Woman helps boyfriend kill her ex when he finds out they’re together, Florida cops say."