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“A Horrific Scene”
Over the past few days, a tragic story has been circulating throughout the country about the triple homicide of three anglers fishing Lake Streety in Polk County, Florida. The lake is situated toward the center of the state near the town of Frostproof.
The three anglers — Damion Tillman (23), Keven Springfield (30), and Brandon Rollins (27) — were planning to meet up at a remote fishing location.
Tillman was the first to arrive. He was being attacked as Springfield and Rollins arrived. Both men were also shot.
Rollins was able to call his father, Cyril, who made his way to the scene. When Cyril arrived, he found his son barely clinging to life and his friends already dead.
Before he was able to get help for his son, however, Rollins passed.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters after the incident, “This is a horrific scene. I have been to a lot of murder scenes in my life and this ranks up with the worst of them. They were viciously murdered.”
A $30,000 reward was offered for information leading to arrests, and the FBI joined in the on the search.
Three Arrests Have Been Made
On Wednesday, July 22, Judd announced that three individuals have been arrested in conjunction with these murders.
Tony “TJ” Wiggins (26), his brother Robert Wiggins (21), and his girlfriend Mary Whittemore (27) have all been arrested.
According to Judd’s statement, TJ Wiggins has an arrest history with 230 felony charges, 15 convictions, and two stints in state prison. Robert only had one misdemeanor arrest, while Mary did not have any criminal arrests on her record.
At the time of the murder, TJ Wiggins was out on bond for breaking a man’s arm with a crowbar and was awaiting trial.
Possible Motives
Before arriving at the eventual scene of the murders, Damion Tillman had visited a nearby Dollar General store and told the clerk that he was going fishing. Per a report on Fox 13 News (Tampa Bay), the suspects were also in the store and heard Damion say where he was going and also knew that Keven Springfield would be there.
When TJ Wiggins and his party arrived, he confronted Keven and accused him of stealing his truck and selling the engine. It is unconfirmed as of this posting whether there is any validity to this claim.
After the shootings, Wiggins brother and Mary Whittemore then left the scene and visited a nearby McDonald’s, where they ordered ten double cheeseburgers and two chicken sandwiches.
Reports suggest that during questioning, the McDonald’s order is the only piece of information all three subjects agree upon.
It is believed that Mary Whittemore has been uncooperative with officials during her questioning. Officials have confirmed that TJ shot all three victims, however, and will be facing three first-degree murder charges.
Robert and Mary will each face three counts of accessory to murder with an additional count of tampering with evidence.
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