In a harrowing turn of events Denton County police arrested Texas man William Joseph Oddo III, for killing his black fiancee, LaVera Wardell. Oddo confessed that he had shot Wardell in the head and currently he is held for a bail amount of $160,000.
Investigators of the case believe that Wardell’s murder had taken place sometime back but it took a while for the body to be discovered. They further mentioned that the couple had probably got into a fight on May 6, which concluded with Wardell’s murder but her body was discovered only after 2 weeks or so following the neighbors’ complaints of foul smell coming from their apartment.
Since their apartment is situated next to the Timberlinks Golf Club complex, a neighbor told the Denton-Record Chronicle, “It’s honestly heartbreaking. I don’t know how it was right above the office. It’s the penthouse above the office and right next to the gym.”
As reported by Atlanta Black Star, “The body stayed in the apartment until May 19 when police made the gruesome discovery. They were surprised to find the walls and floor were strangely clean, with no blood splatter or blood evidence anywhere in the apartment, reported the outlet. Police located a shotgun in the home along with other unnamed items that could be used to mask smells, but Oddo had disappeared.”
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As investigators started digging, surveillance videos showed Oddo buying cleaning supplies on May 13, a week after murdering Wardell. On May 18, an arrest warrant was issued against Oddo by a judge on the charges of tampering with evidence. Eventually, the police found him at the motel in Mount Pleasant where he was hiding.
According to the police, Oddo then confessed to the crime and said that he had shot Wardell for self defense as she had apparently run toward him with a knife as they were fighting. He further mentioned that he cleaned the murder scene because he “wanted to lay” with her and did so “for approximately three days” as mentioned by Denton Record-Chronicle.
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The arrest affidavit also mentioned that Oddo had used the shotgun found at his house to kill Wardell. While he scrubbed the murder scene, the smell of the rotting body was unbearable for him and thus he fled to the motel. It has also come to light that there were red flags in their relationship as previously also, calls were made regarding domestic violence related to them.
