A break in a 10-year-old cold case surrounding the shooting death of a South Florida father has revealed that the person believed to be responsible is already serving life in prison.
Timothy Thomas is currently serving a life sentence for attempted murder after he shot a Monroe County Sheriff’s deputy during a shootout in 2015, according to CBS News Miami’s partners at the Miami Herald. Now, he’s also facing charges in the unsolved 2015 Florida City murder of 32-year-old Renaldo Clayton.
Thomas appeared in bond court on Saturday afternoon and is scheduled to return to court on Monday. According to the Herald, Thomas is also charged in a separate cold case involving the murder of a 16-year-old Gainsville boy in 2010.
An “execution-style” murder in Florida City
On Oct. 19, 2015, Clayton was shot and killed inside his home at 1635 NW 1st Ave.
A video shared with CBS News Miami at the time showed him hours before his murder, playing with his then-three-year-old son in the front yard and a cousin.
Family members told CBS News Miami at the time that Clayton and his son were playing T-ball in the front yard before the boy’s mother came and picked him up. Afterward, he went to the store and when Clayton returned home just before 10 p.m., someone was waiting for him.
According to family members, it appeared that the suspect “ambushed” Clayton by waiting for him to open his front door and followed him inside his home before shooting him in the mouth and then shooting him in the head “execution-style.”
At the time, Miami-Dade Police (Now the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office) was investigating whether the shooting was random or if Clayton was targeted.
New evidence connected the two cases
During his bond court appearance, new details emerged that connected Thomas to Clayton’s murder.
When Clayton’s body was found, investigators also discovered nine 9mm casings next to him.
In May, Alachua County authorities contacted Miami-Dade homicide investigators, leading them to the discovery of a phone belonging to Thomas containing evidence. According to the bond court hearing, Thomas’ shootout with the Monroe County Sheriff’s deputy happened just five days after the Florida City murder.
Ballistics testing then confirmed that the casings from the deputy shooting matched those from the scene of Clayton’s murder.
In August, investigators then traveled to the Graceville Correctional Facility in Jackson County to interview Thomas. He was then brought to Miami-Dade County to face an additional homicide charge in Clayton’s murder.
