Four people have been charged in connection to the $10,000 murder-for-hire plot of a teenage girl after she reported a man had sexually assaulted her, the Department of Justice said.
Isabella Scavelli, 17, showed up at the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office in Florida on Feb. 6 and alleged that Lenard White — a 36-year-old man with multiple aliases — had sexually battered her.
White is accused of paying Keshawn Woods, 22, and Sheldon Robinson, 21, to murder the teen, according to WFLA.
On Feb. 7, Scavelli was fatally shot four times at her home alongside her mother who accompanied her in making the report after two men knocked on the victim’s door and opened fire.
Scavelli’s mother was seriously injured in the shooting, Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis said at the press conference Thursday.
“The bullet that caused her death entered her lower left back area, suggesting that she was shot in the back as she was trying to run for cover,” attorney for the Middle District of Florida Roger Handberg shared during the press conference.
“She was a good kid with a very bright future and to see her life cut short was heart-wrenching to say the least,” Nienhuis said at the press conference.
Police revealed that White — also known as Len, Mike Williams, and Stick — was named a suspect in the shooting following the report filed against him a day prior.
According to Fox 13, White went on a trip to Georgia the night of the teen’s shooting.
K9 units were deployed at the home soon after the shooting and tracked down a red Nike shoe with DNA belonging to Woods.
Robinson, 21, had asked for help with the grizzly murder for hire, saying he had a “clean-up job” and would give anyone willing to help him $5,000 and cocaine, according to HCSO.
Woods agreed to take part in the hit, police revealed.
Within hours of the murder, law enforcement conducted a search warrant on Woods’ home and found nearly $4,000 in cash, along with a gun and illegal drugs.
A box of 9 mm rounds, which matched those found at the murder, was found after police searched Robinson’s residence and a ballistics test was performed.
Investigators found the murder weapon buried in Robinson’s backyard.
In the following months, the sheriff’s office and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) launched a joint investigation, Nienhuis said.
Robinson’s mother, Janet Williams, found the other $6,000 used to pay for the hit but did not report her discovery to authorities.
Williams was charged with three counts of making a false statement as she was busted on a recorded call with her son and denied she found the money when confronted by the ATF.
“They were asking me…did you come into a whole bunch of money? I said No. But, you did come into a whole bunch of money,” Williams allegedly said, according to the outlet.
White, the alleged mastermind of this heartless murder-for-hire plot, was arrested on Feb. 15 on the sexual battery charges filed before the teen’s death.
All three men were indicted on a slew of charges, including murder for hire, conspiracy to commit murder for hire, discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime with violence that caused death and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime.
White and Robinson are set to appear in court on Nov. 9.
If convicted, White, Robinson, and Woods each face mandatory life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Williams, released on the condition of house arrest, faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.
