Florida man convicted of murdering former boss who tried to help his girlfriend get away from him – Crime Online

A Florida man was sentenced to life in prison Friday for killing a woman and burying her in his backyard after learning she was trying to help his girlfriend get out of an abusive relationship with him.

Nathaniel Slade was found guilty of manslaughter in the death of 40-year-old LaDonna Williams in September, according to State’s Attorney Melissa Nelson.

During Friday’s sentencing hearing, Williams’ family members spoke about her and said they wanted the killer to know who she was, WJAX reported.

“My mother was a lot,” said Ladaisha Williams, LaDonna’s daughter. “She wasn’t perfect, you know, but she was our mother.

Her mother still had “a whole life ahead of her, children to finish raising and grandchildren to help raise,” she said.

The victim was the mother of three children and the grandmother of three children.

Williams’ decomposing remains were found buried in the backyard of a rental home in April 2022 as the owner was cleaning out for a new tenant, as CrimeOnline reported. She was last seen in February of that year.

According to Nelson, when police interviewed Slade’s girlfriend, he admitted to stabbing Williams, Slade’s former supervisor at work, in the chest and then forcing her to help him clean up the crime scene. Evidence and the autopsy confirmed her statements.

Investigators then discovered that Williams had tried to help the girlfriend escape the abusive Slade.

Slade is already serving a life sentence in an unrelated case, Nelson said. He pleaded guilty in January to attempted first-degree murder, armed burglary and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and was sentenced in February.

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(Featured image: LaDonna Williams/GoFundMe)