Suspect in murders of four women kills himself in Georgia

WEST POINT, Ga. — Authorities say one of two people wanted in the deaths of four women has killed himself, ending a Tuesday standoff at a west Georgia motel and a multi-state crime spree.

Escambia (Fla.) County Sheriff David Morgan said William Boyette died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and that another suspect, Mary Rice, surrendered and is in custody. The pair is charged with killings that sparked a manhunt throughout southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, where the crimes occurred.

Deputies in Florida responded to a citizen tip Tuesday afternoon and found Boyette and Rice holed up at the West Point Motel in West Point, Ga., along with a car that was stolen Monday morning from Kayla Crocker's home in Pensacola, Fla. Crocker, 28, was shot and died Tuesday afternoon at an area hospital.

According to Sgt. Smith with Troup County Sheriff's Office, police made multiple attempts to contact Boyette and Rice inside the hotel with no luck.

Rice came out of the motel room where she was holed up with Boyette shortly after the Georgia SWAT team arrived. Within minutes of Rice being put in handcuffs and led away from the motel, police heard a single gunshot from inside the motel room, according to Troup County Georgia Sheriff James Woodruff.

Officers entered the room and found Boyette dead, Woodruff said.

The tip was received at about 2:30 p.m. today from a citizen who spotted the car that was being discussed in the media and on social media, Woodruff said. An officer was dispatched to the motel and confirmed it was the car stolen from Crocker.

A clerk at the motel told deputies that Rice checked into the motel Monday night under her own name. Deputies confirmed there were people inside the room because Boyette and Rice opened the curtains periodically and waved at law enforcement.

Deputies set up a perimeter around the hotel and just as SWAT was preparing to enter, Rice came outside, Woodruff said.

“We are always glad when something this seriously is resolved and no one is injured and no one is killed,” Woodruff told media gathered outside the motel. “We knew going in, them having killed several people already, that this could end very badly.”

Dominic Guadagnoli of the U.S. Marshals Service said federal, state and local law enforcement officials were on the scene.

The shooting of Crocker Monday morning in her home was the most recent attack in the crime spree that began Jan. 31.

Two women, Alicia Greer and Jacqueline Moore, were killed at the Emerald Sands Inn in Milton, Fla., on Jan. 31. Boyette and Rice are are then thought to have killed Peggy Broz at her Lillian, Ala., home the morning of Feb. 3 in order to steal her vehicle.

Baldwin County (Ala.) Sheriff’s Office information officer Anthony Lowery confirmed that a warrant for capital murder had been issued for Boyette and Rice for the ambush and killing of Broz.

It’s alleged that Rice and Boyette followed Broz to her home early on the morning of Feb. 3, where they shot and killed Broz in her front yard. Lowery said BCSO has found no other connection between the suspects and the victim other than the fact she had a vehicle they wanted.

“We believe at this point that obviously they selected her to prey on, they don’t have any ties that tie them together at this point,” he said.

Broz worked at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, but Lowery wasn’t able to confirm whether Boyette and Rice had followed Broz all the way from Pensacola to her home, or whether they were already located in Alabama when they found her.

In a press conference at the Santa Rosa county sheriff's office Tuesday morning, Sheriff Bob Johnson said a warrant for accessory after the fact to capital murder has been issued for Rice, who Johnson says is a "willing participant."

Records show that Boyette was a habitual violent offender, having been accused of beating and stabbing previous girlfriends in the years leading up to his killing spree and eventual death.

The prosecution was forced to drop a number of charges as the victims either couldn’t be located or recanted their statements on Boyette’s abuse, and as such he never served more than a year in jail for his domestic violence accusations.

Boyette had only been out of jail four months for a probation violation when he allegedly committed the Milton double homicide.

Aside from the known relationship between Boyette and Greer, police can’t point to any other connection between Boyette and Rice to the other three victims.

State Attorney Bill Eddins said Rice faces charges of accessory after the fact to capital murder in the Milton double homicide, and charges are still pending in the attack on Crocker.

Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Anthony Lowery said Rice is facing charges of capital murder in the Alabama jurisdiction for her involvement with Broz’s killing.