Boyfriend of Slain Fla. Woman Amanda Shafer Admits He "Lost Control," Say Cops
OVIEDO, Fla. (CBS) Scott Myers, the boyfriend of 21-year-old Amanda Shafer who he allegedly stabbed to death, initially tried to tell police that she committed suicide before finally admitting that he "lost control" and "left her for dead," police say.
Myers was temporarily staying at the house Shafer shared with her father when they apparently got into a heated argument. Shafer's father found her dead on the bedroom floor just after 6 p.m. last Thursday.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, after he was arrested at his mother's Winter Springs, Fla. home, Myers, 25, originally told Oviedo police that Shafer committed suicide. But once investigators told him that the location of her wounds made the accusation they were self-inflicted nearly impossible--he confessed, according to the police report.
Police said a neighbor told them they saw the couple arguing earlier in the day, the Sentinel reported.
Friends said Myers was jealous of her and sexually abused her. They also said that Shafer was in the process of trying to kick him out. Myers had been unemployed for nearly nine months and ceased collecting unemployment benefits, stated the newspaper.
"We tried so hard to get her away, but he was in the house," said April Awe, a woman who claimed she was Shafer's best friend, according to the Sentinel. "He was homeless...he threatened her all the time."
Domestic violence homicides are on the rise in Central Florida, according to law-enforcement records. Financial distress and high unemployment are two frequent contributing factors to the escalating crime, according to the Sentinel.
Myers was taken to the Seminole County Jail. He faces first-degree murder and vehicle theft charges.
MORE ON CRIMESIDER.