Murder by arrow case nearing resolution
That slaying case and several other charges against an Inverness man are expected to be resolved this week.
By JIM ROSS
Published December 7, 2004
INVERNESS - Keith Benafield, an Inverness man accused of murder and several other crimes, resolved many of his criminal cases Monday and is scheduled to resolve the murder charge during a hearing Wednesday morning, according to court records and interviews.
Authorities say Benafield, 31, killed Kenneth Richardson in August 2001 at the public boat ramp at Fort Island Gulf Beach west of Crystal River.
The body was found with an arrow through the torso.
Richardson, 59, a traveling evangelist, was an Indiana resident but also had a home in Homosassa.
In separate cases, Benafield was charged with capital sexual battery on a child younger than 12, distributing obscene material to a minor, burglary of a dwelling, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, kidnapping and attempted robbery.
Don Scaglione, the prosecutor handling the murder case, said he could not discuss details of the possible resolution. He will be in Circuit Judge Ric Howard's courtroom at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday for a hearing on the murder case.
A court record shows that the original charge, first-degree murder, had been amended to second-degree murder.
Benafield was in Howard's court on Monday resolving at least some of the other cases, court records showed. Sentencing on those cases won't come until Wednesday.
The murder case was a mystery for quite some time. A grand jury indicted Benafield in September 2003, two years after a fisherman discovered the body.
The alleged motive is not clear; however, according to court records, a former girlfriend told investigators that Benafield said he shot a man with an arrow because the man wouldn't leave him alone.
Benafield has pleaded not guilty in that case.
Benafield was arrested in July 2003 on a charge of sexually battering a 4-year-old girl. He had been romantically involved with the girl's mother and said the woman was trying to get revenge.
Separately, a 14-year-old girl told law officers that, when she was 11 and living with Benafield and her mother, Benafield made her watch a pornographic movie as punishment.
Benafield has pleaded not guilty in those cases. Details about a possible resolution in those cases, or the burglary case, were not available late Monday.
Authorities also said Benafield was the man who, in December 2001, assaulted a woman on the Withlacoochee State Trail.
The woman, 55, was riding her bicycle on the trail when a man pointed a small-caliber pistol at her, court records showed. He tried to force her into the woods and fractured her jaw with his fist.
On Monday, Benafield pleaded no contest to charges of attempted kidnapping and attempted robbery, court records showed.
He also pleaded no contest Monday to the charge of possession of a firearm by a felon.