A Florida convict was arrested for shooting and killing his mother’s live-in girlfriend and her 11-year-old daughter in their Florida home last Thursday.
Marlin Lance Joseph, 26, is charged with shooting and killing Kaladaa Crowell, 36, and Kyra Inglett, 11, because he didn’t like the girl’s “bad attitude,” according to a police report obtained by the Palm Beach Post.
Joseph was captured at 11:15 a.m. Monday by U.S. Marshals after four days on the run.
Joseph was taken into custody wearing nothing but his boxer’s shorts outside an apartment complex near Federal Highway and Hypoluxo Road, spokesman Manny Puri told the Palm Beach Post. He added that Joseph did not resist arrest.
Javarie Williams, Joseph’s cousin, was also arrested for hiding a fugitive in his home. Police say Williams lied about not knowing Joseph’s whereabouts.
Joseph’s mother, Robin Denson, said Crowell was her girlfriend and Kyra was her stepdaughter.
Before Joseph was caught, Denson, pictured inset, stood before TV cameras and begged her son to turn himself in. “Marlin, son, I love you. You know I love you, but please, turn yourself in. If you’re scared to do so, call me,” she said. “I’m not going to eat until he turns himself in,” she told The Post.
“Kaladaa was the sweetest person,” Denson said. “She’d give the shirt off her back to help anybody. She was my girlfriend and that was our home.”
Police say Joseph moved in with Denson, Crowell and Crowell’s children about 10 months ago. He was recently released from prison after serving time for assault and battery on a child.
Joseph and Crowell reportedly argued about the way Kyra was not “getting along with the other children who lived in the home”. He said the young girl had a “bad attitude,” according to police.
Denson said she has had no contact with Crowell’s family and she never met her girlfriend’s parents, who did not approve of their daughter’s lesbian relationship.
“They’re from a Christian family and I respect that ’cause I was raised in a Christian family,” Denson said. “They just didn’t really like that me and her were together and I respect that.”
The city of West Palm Beach offered a $5,000 reward for tips leading to Joseph’s arrest.
