Jurors in the Vickie Williams trial watched a two-hour police interrogation on Tuesday in which the woman accused of killing an elderly Mount Dora couple repeatedly denied ever being in Florida.
Williams is charged with the first-degree murders of Darryl Getman, 83, and his wife, Sharon, 80, who were found stabbed to death inside their home at the Waterman Village retirement community on New Year’s Eve in 2022.
During the recorded interview, detectives challenged Williams with photographs and other evidence that they said placed her at the Mount Dora complex. She nevertheless continued to insist that she had not been to Florida since 2019.
Prosecutors allege that Williams killed the Getmans before leaving in their green Kia Soul. She was later arrested in Savannah, Georgia, after police found her with the vehicle.
Evidence presented earlier in the trial included testimony that investigators found Williams’s hair, fingerprints and bloody footprints at the couple’s home. Officers also reported finding bloodstains and clothing linked to the killings inside the car.
The prosecution has argued that Williams’s denials and actions after the deaths show she understood what she was doing. The state is seeking the death penalty if she is convicted.
Williams’s lawyers are pursuing an insanity defence. They say she was suffering from severe psychosis and schizophrenia at the time, and that delusions had left her unable to understand either her actions or that they were wrong.
The trial began in Lake County after lengthy delays while Williams underwent mental-health assessments. She was previously ruled incompetent to stand trial but was later deemed fit to face the charges following treatment.
