Vacationing Ga. girl, 15, murdered by Fla. homeless man, say police

(CBS/WCTV) SEAGROVE BEACH, Fla. - A 15-year-old Georgia girl vacationing with her family in the Florida panhandle was murdered by a homeless man, say authorities in south Walton County.

Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson says Courtney Wilkes, of Toombs County, Ga., was killed last week by a man she met while on vacation with her parents and two younger siblings in Seagrove, Fla, reported CBS affiliate WCTV.

Police say 21-year old Steven Cozzie was arrested on an open charge of murder, just hours after police found the girl's body on Friday near a nature trail.

Incident reports show the teen was killed by blunt force trauma and Adkinson says there was evidence of struggle. He said "this is a situation where you had one individual who obviously has evil in his heart. There is no other way you can put a nice term on it, but this is nothing more than pure evil," according to WCTV.

Wilkes was reported missing at about 4 p.m. Thursday by her mother, who said her daughter had not returned from a walk with an acquaintance that she met while vacationing, reported al.com. The girl was missing for about 3 hours before the deputies were contacted.

A friend of the suspect said Cozzie's parents kicked him out in the community about 80 miles east of Pensacola, and he was homeless at the time, usually sleeping along beach accesses.

The friend who wants to remain unnamed said was actually feeling bad for Cozzie, saying, "I was going to offer him to crash at my house for a little bit, get off the streets, I didn't get around to it until this happened."

Deputies confirm Cozzie was homeless; they arrested Cozzie at an abandoned lot, where he'd set up camp for the night.

He did not make any statement, and did not attempt to flee, WCTV reported.

Officials say the place Courtney Wilkes' family was staying - the Beachcrest condominiums - was within a mile of where the girl's body was found.