After killing woman, Tampa man left baby alone with body for 19 hours, officials say

Witness statements and surveillance footage led to the arrest of a 52-year-old man who is accused of killing a woman and leaving her toddler alone in an apartment for around 19 hours, according to Hillsborough County court records.

Thomas Sapp, 52, was booked into a Hillsborough County jail Friday and faces charges of first-degree murder, sexual battery and child neglect, jail records show.

After he was arrested and read his Miranda rights, Sapp admitted to killing Mekiyana Williams, 23, in her apartment the night of Feb. 28, detectives said. Sapp told detectives he “snapped.”

At a hearing in a Tampa courtroom Tuesday, Hillsborough County Judge Catherine Catlin denied a motion from the state attorney’s office for pretrial detention and instead set Sapp’s bond at $502,000. If he pays his bail, he would be put on house arrest.

Catlin said that based on her interpretation of Florida law, Sapp could not be held in jail without bail until his trial because he doesn’t have a past pattern of criminal activity.

But the judge called the crimes of which Sapp is accused “heinous.”

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office detective Michael Gabot testified in court detailing evidence collected by investigators in the death of Williams.

The investigation began when the Sheriff’s Office received a call from the Tampa Police Department around 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 28. The police department said that an attorney had called a Tampa detective to report that his client told him he had killed Williams, according to the pretrial detention motion, and he was concerned about a toddler who had been left alone in the home. The attorney did not name the man, but the investigation later led detectives to identify Sapp as the client in question.

Hillsborough County deputies went to The Avenue apartment complex, 9101 Avenue Club Drive in the Temple Terrace area, for a welfare check based on information received from the lawyer and found Williams dead in the home. According to the filing, Williams’ body didn’t have any “obvious signs of injury or defensive wounds.”

Deputies also found a 2-year-old toddler, unharmed, in a pack-and-play in the home, with a severely soiled diaper. Gabot said the child had been left alone in the apartment with his mother’s body for about 19 hours by the time deputies arrived.

Detectives later spoke with Williams’ grandmother, who told authorities Williams was seeing an older man named “Tom” who drove a white Chrysler 300 sedan. Williams’ mother confirmed the information and said Sapp lived in the “Grant Park” area, according to the motion, and she told them Sapp had bought her daughter a white Dodge Charger.

Detectives returned to the apartment complex and got surveillance footage from Feb. 28. One camera showed a white Dodge Charger arriving at the apartment, and then a white Chrysler later arriving and leaving, the motion says. A different camera showed a woman with a child arriving at the apartment, and later a heavy-set man arriving at the apartment and then leaving.

Gabot said a text thread between Sapp and Williams showed Sapp sent a message at around 12:07 a.m. saying, “At the door.” The text was sent at roughly the same time as surveillance footage showed him walking up to the apartment, the detective testified.

Detectives later showed the footage to four witnesses, all of whom confirmed the Chrysler shown in the video belonged to Sapp and identified the man as Sapp. Williams’ mother also confirmed the Charger was her daughter’s car, and the woman in the video was Williams, records say.

Detectives spoke with Sapp’s son, who said his sister told him Sapp had killed a woman who had a small child, the motion says.

Detectives also interviewed Sapp’s daughter. She said that on Feb. 28, her father told her he went to Williams’ apartment to take back the car. When Sapp arrived, he said the two argued about Williams having a sexual encounter with another person, according to the motion, and the two physically fought.

The motion says that Sapp’s daughter told detectives that “Thomas Sapp and Meka ‘went to the floor’ and he made a motion with his hands.”

In his testimony Tuesday, Gabot said Sapp told relatives that he held his hands over Williams’ nose and mouth and used his body weight to hold her down as she tried to say she couldn’t breathe.

“It took her a really long time to die,” Sapp told his daughter, according to Gabot’s testimony. He said it took five to 10 minutes for Williams to lose consciousness.

According to the motion, Sapp then rubbed alcohol on Williams’ face and fingers to try to “clean up.”

In his testimony, Gabot said testified that Sapp took items from the apartment that he had touched and disposed of them in a dumpster at a nearby church.

Sapp stayed at the apartment for two hours because he was worried about leaving Williams’ son alone, he told his daughter. Sapp later called a lawyer, who notified law enforcement that the child had been left alone. Sapp told his daughter he would turn himself in, the motion said.

A medical examiner ruled Williams’ death a homicide caused by “asphyxiation,” records show. The medical examiner also said Williams showed signs she was sexually battered either before her death or close to it.

Gabot said authorities believe the sexual battery may have occurred while Williams was unconscious. He testified that “bodily fluids” were found on Williams’ underwear, but he could not say whether it was semen. Upon questioning from Assistant Public Defender Donna Perry, Gabot said the substance had not yet been tested for DNA to determine who left the sample.

Sapp — who attended the hearing in person, wearing a red jail uniform — frequently shook his head and leaned over to chat with his attorney during Gabot’s testimony.

Catlin set Sapp’s bail at $500,000 for the murder charge and $2,000 for the child neglect charge. The judge did not assign bail for the sexual battery charge, pending the results of DNA tests.

If Sapp makes bail, he would only be allowed to leave his home for a job, meetings with his attorneys and doctor appointments, Catlin said. Sapp said he had been working as an Uber driver, which Catlin said he would not be permitted to do while on house arrest. He will be required to wear a GPS monitor and he cannot speak with his family members who are considered witnesses in the case.

Sapp was still listed as being in the Hillsborough County jail as of Tuesday night.