Two men frog-marched a doomed man through a fence and soon after, five shots rang out on a Sunday afternoon in Fort Lauderdale.
One of the two assailants pinned Widell Everett’s arms pinned behind his back. As the slightly built 22-year-old was thrust behind two apartment buildings toward the killing place, he uttered, ‘Come on, man. Damn.’
Those four words, a plea, were perhaps his last.
Fort Lauderdale police have arrested Ricardo Dexter Rodrigo Jr., 26, and Arthur Jerome Washington III, 22, each on a charge of premeditated murder. There were multiple witnesses — both human and electronic, in the form of GPS devices and surveillance video — to the Feb. 17 killing and during the hours after.
Rodrigo and Washington live in the same apartment building at 1020 NW Sixth Ave. Everett’s body and five bullet casings were found between the building where Rodrigo and Washington live and the back of a nearby apartment building at 1019 NW Fifth Ave.
There were two anonymous tips shared with police: One accused Rodrigo, by his nickname Rick, and Washington in the killing. A second caller pointed only to a “Rico,” and gave a physical description that matched Rodrigo, according to arrest warrants.
Detective Elijah Thomas noticed Everett wore a GPS bracelet on his ankle. The devices are used to monitor people who are released from jail on bond before their trials happen.
At the time he was killed, Everett had an open case from a Jan. 11 arrest, when he was accused of giving false identification to police.
Everett also was being sought by police at that time for a case of operating a car without a valid license.
After the detective consulted with the Broward Sheriff Office’s pretrial services department and the contractor that provides the GPS monitoring system, Thomas found only two men, Rodrigo and Washington, who were being monitored by GPS.
The arrest report doesn’t say why Thomas thought to search for other GPS wearers as possible suspects, and police declined Friday to discuss the open investigation.
Rodrigo and Washington’s ankle monitoring devices sent signals to “an average of nine satellites,” which the contractor said provided “a very high level of accuracy” and put them near the place Everett was shot to death, the arrest report said.
At 3:54 p.m., Rodrigo’s GPS signaled he was at the exact location, which was the fence line between his apartment and the back of an apartment building at 1019 NW Fifth Ave. At the same time, Washington’s ankle bracelet signaled he was in the backyard near the fence behind the apartment building where he and Rodrigo live, the arrest reports said.
Two people in the neighborhood called 911, at 3:55 p.m. and 3:58 p.m., and told police they heard the gunfire and took a few minutes to secure their property and relatives and to arm themselves before calling.
A third witness saw Washington follow Rodrigo as he forced Everett through the fence that separates the apartment buildings.
The neighborhood is east of Interstate 95, just north of West Sunrise Boulevard.
A third man, who has multiple tattoos, may have watched the shooting and then walked away. He is not in custody, police said Friday. Detectives have not verified that man’s identity or if he played any role in the homicide.
After the shooting, Washington’s GPS put him back at home for several hours.
Rodrigo’s GPS and surveillance video showed him boarding a Broward County Transit bus at Northwest 38th Street and Powerline Road.
Ten days later, Widell Everett Sr. was at the Agape Funeral and Cremation Services in Fort Lauderdale, making arrangements for his son when Rodrigo rode up on an electric scooter.
Rodrigo introduced himself as Rick and told the father he was sorry for his loss.
Then Rodrigo showed the father texts with the nicknames of two men, and said they were responsible for the killing, the arrest warrant said.
But Everett told Rodrigo he’d heard he was responsible for the death, which Rodrigo denied.
It couldn’t have been him, Rodrigo said, because he’d been in Hallandale Beach at the time of the shooting, and showed the father his ankle monitor.
Police were at the scene and crime tape was up when Rodrigo got home, he told Everett, according to the warrant.
After their arrests Tuesday, Rodrigo and Washington were being held without bond in the main Broward County jail in Fort Lauderdale.
At the time Rodrigo was taken into custody, he had open cases for felony theft and burglary offenses, and was on probation for drug and theft offenses and for resisting an officer with violence.
Washington had open cases for grand theft, cocaine possession and burglary charges when he was arrested and was on felony probation for drug-related offenses, according to the arrest warrant.
ljtrischitta@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4233 or Twitter @LindaTrischitta
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