Jury convicts two men in 2014 armed home invasion and brutal murder of Fort Pierce woman
FORT PIERCE – Nine years after 51-year-old Elizabeth Hernandez was brutally stabbed to death in her Fort Pierce home during an armed home invasion and robbery, her killer is headed to prison to serve three life terms, a judge ordered Wednesday.
The sentence was imposed after a St. Lucie County jury convicted Ray Williams, 43, and Keith Canty, 36 – both of Fort Pierce − of multiple felonies, capping a six-day trial that began Sept. 27, court records show.
It was the second trial for both men after a judge on Oct. 18, 2022 declared a mistrial following two days of testimony.
As one of the oldest prosecutions pending in St. Lucie County, the case churned through several defense lawyers and five judges, who granted a combined 42 continuances, records show.
The jury verdict
On Sept. 8, 2014, Hernandez was found lying in a pool of blood inside her home in the 3000 block of Sunrise Boulevard. Aaron Holmes, then 30, was shot twice in the head as he fled the house.
Canty on Wednesday was ordered to serve three consecutive life terms after jurors found him guilty of first-degree murder with a weapon, attempted murder and two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, according to Assistant State Attorney Brandon White.
“Keith Canty stabbed Elizabeth Hernandez 29 times, mostly in the neck area. And she had defensive wounds … she put up a pretty good fight,” White said. “Ray Williams shot Aaron Holmes, who ultimately survived and later died.”
White and Assistant State Attorney Justin Cormier presented about 350 trial exhibits and the jury heard from nearly two dozen witnesses.
Williams testified, White said, but Canty did not.
Williams was convicted of manslaughter with a weapon, attempted manslaughter, two counts of robbery with a firearm, possession of a firearm by a felon, tampering with evidence and grand theft of a motor vehicle.
His sentencing is Dec. 6.
The murder
Jurors were told Hernandez and Holmes entered her house and found Williams and Canty inside. Holmes knew Williams, so he thought it was a joke when the pair said, “this is a robbery, get undressed and get on the floor,” White said.
“Then the weapons came out and Aaron Holmes knew it wasn't a joke, so he ran out of the house,” White said. “He got shot in the back of the head two times. But he was able to make it to a neighbor's house.”
Williams and Canty fled the house, leaving Hernandez mortally wounded.
Williams was arrested the same day, records show, and Canty was arrested 10 days later.
White said in court Wednesday, one of Hernandez’s daughters, who was 11 in 2014, asked Canty if killing her mother was worth it.
“Keith Canty said that he enjoyed it,” White recalled. “It's already horrific what he did, but to add that, I've just never seen it.”
Melina Dennis, 44, an accomplice who admitted driving the men to Hernandez’s home - but without knowing their robbery plan - later helped investigators recover items stolen from the home that Williams had burned, then buried behind an abandoned house.
Dennis, of Fort Pierce, in 2019 pleaded no contest to evidence tampering, accessory after the fact and driving with a suspended license. Her sentencing is pending.
‘Jury tampering’ and 2022 mistrial
In a rare move, White said for this second trial, only the jurors’ first names were revealed in court to better protect their identity after Canty was accused of attempting to influence or tamper with jurors seated in his trial last year.
Members of the jury seated last week were partially sequestered and were kept together during lunch.
“We did a lot to protect the jurors in this case,” White said. “And that's important, because our entire system relies on citizens coming in, and we need to protect them.”
In felony charges filed against Canty last month, he was accused of making numerous recorded phone calls last year from the St. Lucie County Jail seeking the help of relatives and a girlfriend to extend a bribe to a female juror serving on his jury.
Investigators determined Canty was using a numerical code system to spell out the names of some jurors seated in his trial. An FBI agent brought in to assist deciphered Canty’s numbers code, White said, which helped reveal the jury tampering plot.
White on Thursday said now that Canty was sentenced to a trio of life prison terms, he dropped the jury tampering charges.
“Essentially there isn’t more punishment that we can get,” White said. “He’s a danger to the people of St. Lucie County so I want to get him to (Department of Corrections) as soon as possible.”
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Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of "Uncertain Terms," a true-crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Fort Pierce woman's killer shows no remorse in 2014 armed home invasion
