ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WESH) — Police have released more details surrounding a woman being found dead Thursday in an Orlando apartment.
Deputies were called just before 2 p.m. to the 1700 block of Woodbury Road. Callers reported a “suspicious person displaying hostile, erratic behavior.”
The person, later identified as Arthur Creese, 37, was in the parking lot naked, police said. He refused to identify himself.
According to an affidavit, “Concerned for the male’s safety, and believing that the male was possibly under the influence of unknown drugs, or suffering from a mental illness episode, the deputies attempted to secure the subject for Baker Act.”
Creese was taken into custody and transported to AdventHealth East.
Apartment officials told police that Creese was known to be staying in a specific unit, though he was not on the lease.
When officers approached this apartment to speak with the tenant, they noticed blood on the door.
“Immediately upon opening the door, deputies observed blood all over the living room and a human-shaped object beneath a sheet on the floor. Deputies entered, removed the top portion of the sheet, and saw a black female beneath that had been partially dismembered,” an affidavit said.
The victim, 32-year-old Turquoise Raegina Samuel, was pronounced dead.
Police said Samuel’s chest had been cut open and her hands were cut off and placed on the dining room table. Police observed that one of her feet had been nailed to the floor.
Investigators spoke with two neighbors who said they had heard a woman screaming Wednesday night but did not call the police.
Detectives went to the hospital to interview Creese, who had scrapes and cuts all over his upper body, as well as dried blood on his stomach that did not appear to be from his own wounds.
Detectives were able to match an impression of Creese’s feet to footprints found in blood at the crime scene.
According to an affidavit, investigators established that Creese understood the difference between truth and a lie before continuing their interrogation.
While the details of that conversation have been redacted, police stated that there is probably evidence to arrest Creese for the first-degree murder of Samuel.
