By Marilyn Bardsley
March 17, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Crime Library) —Kimothy Simmons, a teenager with sad eyes and impassive face, has been big trouble for both the police and his mother before he was even a teenager. According to police, he escaped from a juvenile home at age 12, faced charges of carjacking and use of a gun at age 14, suspicion of grand theft at age 15. Now at age 17, he is caught in another carjacking and faces first degree murder charges in the stabbing death of 23-year-old nursing student Sarah Whitlock. With the gold mine of evidence in the Whitlock murder, it looks like one psychopathic career criminal in training is going away for good.
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| Kimothy Simmons |
How does one reconcile friends' descriptions of Simmons as "a perfect gentleman," always smiling, "not a violent person"? Simple: he is experienced in conning people into liking him. Undoubtedly he conned Sarah Whitlock at Jacksonville Landing when he told her he was a police recruit. Undoubtedly, he shoplifted a hat with "narcotics officer" printed on it and tee shirt with "police" printed on it to further deceive Sarah when he went to her apartment and posed as a plain clothes police officer. Undoubtedly, he tried to con the police into believing that he had what he called a "romantic" interest in her when he claimed that after he met Sarah, he found where she lived and went to her apartment before and after the murder.
Romantic interest? One would have to be very naïve indeed to believe that his interest in Sarah Whitlock was romantic. This calculating young thug stalked her, planned his attack on her, waited for her to return, conned her into opening the door and stabbed her to death. Then he claimed that he went to her apartment after the murder. This is serial killer behavior. It is common for a serial killer to return to the scene of the crime to relive the "pleasure" received from the murder.
A little more than a week later, this "smiling," "perfect gentleman," is caught by police in another carjacking and an abduction. Police should see if they can tie him to other unsolved murders in the area. Simmons' activities suggest a nascent organized serial killer.
Teen Arrested in Murder of Sarah Whitlock:
Killer a Fake Cop?
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