An active-duty Marine has been charged with murdering a contestant on a racy reality show. Her body was found in a pond a week after she disappeared 80 miles away while working as a bodyguard.
Willie Ellington, a 20-year-old Marine assigned to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, was killed Wednesday, the same day the body of 26-year-old Tsei Bennett was found in a pond in an abandoned area of Mobile, Alabama. I was arrested. According to the Escambia County Sheriff's Office.
Bennett, one of the exotic dancers who appeared on the Holy Food TV series “Scrippers Boot Camp” earlier this year, was last seen Saturday in Pensacola, 80 miles away, officials said.
According to the sheriff's office, she was “working as an escort and was meeting the suspect at the Sweet Dream Inn at the time of her disappearance.”
Police have not said how Bennett was killed or how he ended up in the pond, but evidence suggests he was killed in northwest Florida. WKRG reported.
Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said authorities quickly investigated the murder after receiving information that the murder suspect may be on a bus that stopped in Opelika, Alabama, about 330 miles from both Mobile and Pensacola. He said they were able to arrest the suspect.
“Our team immediately rushed to the station and began a surveillance operation. When the bus arrived, investigators located a man matching the suspect's description and arrested him,” Jones said. .
Ellington was charged with first-degree murder and possession of child pornography.
The suspect in the murder is Captain Jacoby Getty, a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps and a member of the Training and Education Command. Confirmed to Pensacola News Journal.
He was assigned to Marine Corps Aviation Training Support Group-23, which is located aboard NAS Pensacola and specializes in training Marines in the aviation, cyber, explosive ordnance disposal, and combatant diving communities, the newspaper said.
“Training Command is aware of the ongoing investigation and is committed to working closely with local authorities to support their efforts,” Getty said.
Ellington is being held at the Lee County Detention Center in Opelika, Alabama.
Bennett starred in the first season of “Scripper Bootcamp,'' where 12 dancers lived together in hopes of “advancing their exotic performance careers.''
The Escambia County Sheriff's Office, which is leading the investigation, said more information will be available once Bennett's family is notified of her death.
