Suspect Busted With Photo Of Missing Victim's Corpse On His Phone; Remains Still Unrecovered

A Pensacola man has been arrested after a photo of his missing roommate's corpse was reportedly found on his phone. The victim's body has yet to be recovered although search efforts are underway.

Giles Curt Jones, 38, has been arrested and charged with premeditated first-degree murder after photos of the corpse of his roommate Latonya Antionette Baxter, 40, who had been reported missing since Sept. 12, was recovered from his phone, NBC 15 News reported.

Baxter, of the 100 block of Warwick Avenue in Pensacola, was reported missing to Pensacola Police by her daughter on Sept. 12. Law enforcement reportedly searched Baxter's home that she shared with her daughter and Jones for possible leads in the investigation. The officers would later find traces of blood in Baxter's bedroom and other locations on the property, as well as on Jones' vehicle.

Following this, the officers obtained Jones' cell phone and reportedly found a photograph of Baxter's corpse in its memory. The photograph was reportedly taken at 1:54 p.m on Saturday, Sept. 11, according to WKRG.

On Sept. 11, Jones’ vehicle was reported to be in Century in north Escambia County at about noon and returned through the area at about 3 p.m, said the police.

Jones was arrested on late Wednesday, Sept. 15, at the Pensacola Greyhound bus station and charged with premeditated first-degree murder, which is a capital felony.

In a similar but unrelated incident, a 28-year-old man named Xavier Almonte who was accused of setting a Bronx apartment ablaze to conceal the fatal stabbing of his 71-year-old roommate Curtis Austin has been arrested and charged with murder, according to the authorities.

Austin was reportedly discovered lying unconscious inside the apartment with three stab wounds to his neck. The firefighters pulled Austin out of the fire and immediately rushed him to Jacobi Medical Center. However, Austin was later pronounced dead at the hospital, Latin Times reported.

Almonte has subsequently been arrested and charged with murder, manslaughter, and arson charges, authorities said. However, Almonte has insisted on his innocence to the police, claiming that he wasn't in the room during the attack.

Almonte, who reportedly has a psychiatric history, said in his statement to the authorities that he heard Austin arguing with someone when he woke up. He also claimed that he left the apartment before the fire erupted. Almonte, however, added that there was a faint scent of smoke in the room before he left the room.

“He returned once the fire increased and called 911,” a prosecutor said in Bronx Criminal Court on July 12. “They were living in the same apartment, where they lived in separate rooms.”

Investigators said that the fire appeared to have started on the victim's mattress and later spread to the rest of the room. The police are investigating the incident to understand whether Almonte set the room on fire to cover up the murder.