POSTED: Nov 26, 2009
Staff Reporter
Yahoo News/Associated Content
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| Samira Watkins/MySpace |
While many of us finagled with Thanksgiving travel and dinner plans the week before this holiday, the family of 25-year-old Samira Watkins tossed between a gamut of emotions as they sat restless and worried wondering if their sister, daughter and granddaughter and her unborn child would be found alive.
For Five days, Valerie Johnson’s grandson, 4-year-old Dequin, cried and repeatedly asked for his mother. She didn’t know what to tell him.
The last time anyone saw Watkins alive was at 8:20 p.m. on October 29 when Watkins finished her shift at the Pine Forest Road McDonald's. She went home and left again at 9:30 p.m. to drop her son off at her grandmothers, Minnie Joseph, DeSoto Street home. According to her sister, Sylvia Watkins, the young mother was going to see Zachary Littleton, a 25 year-old Navy sailor, at his apartment. Littleton, according to the Pensacola police, was the father of Watkins' unborn child. And more importantly, he was married.
Sylvia Watkins said that when her sister failed to return home, she called her cell phone and after getting no answer, she went to Littleton’s Creighton Road apartment the following morning, Friday, October 30. She knocked, but got no answer. She knocked at the neighbor’s door and was told that Littleton had moved out of the apartment that very morning. When Samira did not show up for her shift at McDonald’s for two days, Sylvia Watkins reported her missing on Saturday, October 31 at 10:15 a.m.
In a statement to investigators, Sylvia Watkins stated that her sister went to meet Littleton on October 29 to talk about their impending pregnancy. Watkins wanted to meet with Littleton “somewhere public,” but Littleton didn't want to, said Sylvia Watkins. According to Sylvia, Samira and Littleton met in August. When Samira told Littleton, who is married, that she was pregnant, he demanded that she get an abortion. Samira refused. She said she would have the baby and hoped Littleton would support his child.
DISTURBING COMPUTER INQURIES
When Samira went missing, investigators quickly interviewed Littleton and were told that he wasn't positive that Watkins' unborn child was his.
The seven-page probable-cause warrant states that a search of Littleton’s computer revealed several disturbing searches such as: “"what speeds up human remains decomposition," "how to pass a polygraph" along with inquires on abortion clinics in Pensacola, “aftercare” as well as prices for abortions.
Pensacola Assistant Police Chief Chip Simmons stated that he understood the searches to have taken place prior to the disappearance of Samira Watkins taking place.
Although everyone, including police, had their suspicions about what may have happened to Samira Watkins, with no body, and no other evidence pointing at foul play, all investigators and members of Samira’s family could do was search, wait and pray.
Photo png.comBODY DISCOVERED ON THE BAYOU GRANDE
Then, on the afternoon of November 3 two men on wave runners spotted a duffle bag floating on the waters of Pensacola’s Bayou Grande near an overlook off of Syrcle Drive. The duffle bag contained the body of Samira Watkins. The duffle bag contained a paper towel with a bluebird and flower design, disposable wipes and only one of Watkins’ favorite gold hoop earrings remained in her ear.
Again, despite the body, a bevy of suspicions and the disturbing computer searches found on Littleton’s computer, police were hesitant to name the young sailor, who worked as a military policeman aboard the Pensacola Naval Air Station, as their suspect.
MISSING VEHICLE FOUND
On the afternoon of November 5, WEAR ABC3 TV received a tip from viewer, Dwayne Harris after he spotted Samira’s Red 1997 Ford Taurus abandoned in the driveway of a home on Bellview Avenue in Pensacola. The reports aired by ABC3 news helped Harris identify the vehicle, which neighbors say they first noticed on October 30.
WATCH NEWS VIDEO OF CAR DISCOVERY
After police processed the car for evidence, questioned neighbors and had the car towed from the driveway they told news reporters that nothing of significance was found inside the car, and they have no clue as to why it was left in that particular neighborhood.
SEARCH WARRANT
Days later, the police announced that they had narrowed their “list of suspects” to one person, but would not divulge the individuals name until fingerprints found on the vehicle and DNA evidence from Watkins' body and the duffel bag she was found in were identified.
The following day, November 6, detectives searched Littleton’s apartment where they found the roll of paper towels matching the design pattern on the paper towel found with Watkins’ body, containers of Lysol and disinfectant wipes matching those found in the duffel bag containing Watkins body and the other missing earring belonging to Watkins. Preliminary DNA tests revealed that it likely belonged to Watkins.
LITTLETON ARRESTED
17 days later, Pensacola police arrive at Naval Air Station Pensacola and along with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service arrested Littleton (Pictured left) without incident. Investigators later said that amongst the evidence that led them to arrest Littleton was a cell phone, which Littleton had activated just so he could call Watkins on. After his arrest, Sylvia Watkins told reporters, "This means a lot. We have been waiting for weeks."
At Littleton’s first court appearance, members of Watkins family filled every seat in the courtroom. Strangely, this was the first time any one of them had ever seen Littleton.
WATCH LITTLETON'S COURT APPEARENCE
Sylvia Watkins said she didn't know much about Littleton except that she’d spoken to him one time over the telephone when he called to leave a message for Samira. She hadn’t even met him and until he was arrested, she didn’t even know what his real name was. Samira Watkins had always referred to Littleton as “Ricky.” Most likely because he was married and did not want Watkins’ family members to know anything about him.
At that court hearing, Assistant Public Defender Jerome Smiley argued that Littleton should be granted bond because the charge is based on inferences. “"He has a child, has been active duty Navy for five years and has no prior record. At least consider a reasonable bond in this case,” said Smiley. Escambia County Judge David Ackerman denied Smiley’s request and ordered the Navy petty officer third class held without bond pending a meeting of a grand jury.
The State’s Attorney Bill Eddins said a grand jury will convene in order to consider whether to charge Littleton, a Mississippi native, with premeditated first-degree murder, a charge that carries a possible death penalty or a minimum mandatory life sentence upon a conviction.
Citing state law, assistant State Attorney John Molchan said that Littleton probably wouldn’t be charged in the death of the unborn child because the fetus would have to have been in a state where it could sustain life outside the womb in order for murder charges to be filed against Littleton. "I do not believe the evidence shows that the fetus was in that stage," Molchan said.
NEIGHBORS RECOUNT SUSPECTS ACTIVITIES
Joseph Ogburn, a neighbor of Littleton’s had not been living in the Crestview apartment complex long. He lived in the unit just below Littleton’s and said that the Navy petty officer was “awfully busy moving out Saturday” just two days after Samira went missing.
Ogburn said, "Far as I know, they were in a hurry to get gone. You know, they was a U-Haul trailer.” It’s anyone’s guess who the “they” are that Ogburn referred to. There have been no reports that Littleton’s wife was home during any period before or after the murder of Watkins.
Another neighbor said, "I saw him moving out on a Saturday morning at 7:00 in the morning." The exact time that Littleton began moving out of the apartment isn’t known, but all neighbors agreed that he moved out in a hurried manner on October 30.
Lynn Bradley, another neighbor of Littleton’s said that he told her his wife and child would be joining him and he needed a bigger apartment. Bradley, who had been living next door to Littleton for about a year, added that it was only then that she found out that Littleton was married and that she had not ever seen Samira Watkins at his apartment.
THE NIGHT OF THE MURDER
Another one of Littleton's neighbors, Denise Neil, told police that she saw the Littleton and Watkins arguing in the parking lot of the Crestview apartment complex the night Watkins disappeared (October 29). She said that Littleton appeared "aggressive," and a woman matching Watkins' description tried to calm him down. Neil said the woman leaned against a mid-to-late model red Ford Taurus, the same model that Watkins drove.
Court affidavits show that following that tip, detectives combed taxi cab records from Oct. 29 and found that driver Wiley Dickerson of the Yellow Cab company picked up a man named “Zach” from a Waffle House on Michigan Avenue in Pensacola at approximately 4:20 a.m. The restaurant is located less than a mile from where Watkins’ vehicle was found. The cab dropped “Zach” off less than a quarter-mile from Littleton's Creighton Road home.
Security footage from the Waffle House shows a man entering the store holding what appears to be a canister of disinfectant wipes as he looked directly at the security camera.
In a report written by one of the detectives working the case, Detective Jonathan Thacker wrote, “I am able to identify {the person in the video} as Littleton because I have met Littleton on four prior occasions and have interviewed him in reference to this case," the affidvait reads.
MEMORIES OF SAMIRA'S LIFE
On October 21, 2009, Watkins’ (Photo on left; Samira is the first on the left) myspace mood read “blessed.” Her personal blurbs described her as “sweet, nice looking and hardworking.” She was a bright and funny young woman who was devoted to her 4-year-old son. She had been working at McDonald’s since she was 18-years-old and was a manager in addition to going to Pensacola Junior college where she was studying to become a dental assistant and was scheduled to graduate in May 2010.
Antoinette Floyd, a childhood friend of Watkins said, “I watched Samira grow up. She always had a smile on her face.” Descriptions from friends and co-workers varied from humorous to nice. She was loved and liked by all who knew her.
Katadrew Jenkins said, “I will truly miss (Samira’s’) smile, and how she would make all the managers and crew crack up [with] some of the things she would do.”
Samira was so young and so full of life. With so many wonderful things going on in her life, it is very easy to feel the pain her family is experiencing. Sylvia Watkins said her sister had a lot she was looking forward to. Not only was she planning a birthday party for her son (who turned 5 on Nov. 19), but also she said her sister also was looking forward to a Nov. 25 trip to Jacksonville, Florida where Sylvia, a god-sister, a cousin and a friend all planned to celebrate Thanksgiving.
"She was happy about that," Sylvia said. "She was happy about moving on up in life."
Now, three weeks later, her family has had to bury her and will try to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday without her. Although Watkins' cause of the death has not yet been determined, her family can rest easy knowing that she is at peace and that the man accused of her murder is behind bars. Littleton is set to appear in court again on December 17. The Black Urban Times attempted to reach family members of Zachary Littleton in Vaughn, Mississippi but was unsuccessful at press time.
Samira Watkins is survived by her son, Dequin Peters (above); mother, Valerie Joseph; father, Edward Watkins; sisters, April and Sylvia; brothers, Chris and Montel; grandmother, Minnie Joseph; and a host of aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces and cousins, all of Pensacola. She has been laid to rest at Holy Cross Cemetery.
Samira Watkins Murder
CONDOLENCES
You may pay online condolences to the family at the following sites:
Legacy Obituaries
Samira's Facebook Memorial
Samira's MySpace Page
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Please contact reporter Alicia Cruz at nj.newsroom.cruz@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter: alicia_c_
RIP Ms. Samira
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