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Billy Bennett Adams III murdered his pregnant girlfriend Alana Sims, 22, three days after he was acquitted for killing Trevon Albury and Daniel Thompson, police said. (Mugshot: Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a man who allegedly murdered his pregnant girlfriend just a few days after jurors acquitted him in another double homicide. Cops in Tampa, Florida, previously said Billy Bennett Adams III, 25, lured out Alana Sims, 22, only to shoot and kill her because he apparently did not want to be in her life and was not ready to have a child.
“The capital felony was a homicide and was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification,” said the filing on Friday from the State Attorney’s Office of the 13th Judicial Circuit.
Sims was five months pregnant.
“The victim of the capital felony was a person less than 12 years of age,” prosecutors wrote of her unborn child.
Adams pleaded not guilty last month to a count each of murder in the first degree and killing of an unborn child by injury to mother.
He had gotten a new lease on life back on Jan 27, when jurors acquitted him of murdering Trevon Albury and Daniel Thompson in 2020. Though he admitted to shooting and killing the men, he maintained they were actually executing a robbery at Joseph Meeks’ recording studio at the time.
“Mr. Albury points a gun to the back of Mr. Meeks’ head,” Adams said, according to KTSU. “Mr. Meeks is at the computer, his back is turned. He doesn’t know what’s going on.”
He claimed he killed Thompson in a struggle over the gun.
“I turned around, and I saw he had a gun in his hand and he said they were going to rob,” Meeks testified.
It was only three days after his acquittal that Adams allegedly lured out Sims to what was supposed to be a party celebrating the verdict. Instead, he shot and killed her, abandoning her body, officers said. Her 18-month-old son was found alive in a nearby vehicle she had borrowed to drive over to meet Adams in the Easton Park subdivision, according to cops.
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Investigators tracked down Adams as her boyfriend. He allegedly told them shifting stories, at first denying he knew she was dead.
“Further Adams stated he did not believe he was the father of the victim’s unborn child and stated he had not seen, spoken with, or texted the victim in several months,” authorities said. “Lastly, Adams told detectives that he was at home the entire evening of 1/30/2023 and that he did not leave the house until the next day.”
Authorities cite surveillance footage and gated community records in claiming he drove his father’s vehicle that evening. Confronted with that discrepancy, he allegedly said he went out with friends, and he gave officers a video to support this. This footage, however, had been altered to show the date of the murder, police said. It was actually from Feb. 1.
Police said they seized Adams’ phone, obtained a search warrant, and discovered he was communicating with a woman named Lakenya Brantley. Officers claimed to have determined the alleged motive behind Sims’ murder from this:
During these IMessage’s a potential motive was developed. During the messages that occurred on January 29, 2023, Adams III communicates that “tomorrow this s— done.” Other messages indicate that Brantley was upset concerning the victim’s pregnancy and that Adams, III wanted to have his life and that “she” wouldn’t be included. Brantley messages Adams, II back indicating “this ain’t the way baby”. As mentioned these IMessages occurred on January 29, 2023 and the murder of the victim occurred the next day on January 30, 2023. Lastly, the cell phone extraction of the phone belonging to Adams, III had a search of maps on 1/30/2023 for the Easton Park subdivision (search occurred at 6:43 p.m.)
After his arrest, Adams at first denied having contact with Sims on Jan. 30. Police said they confronted him with the inconsistencies in his story, and he finally admitted he did meet with her. He allegedly claimed, however, he killed Sims in self-defense. Officers said he also ended up revising that story:
Initially the defendant stated that the victim pulled a gun on him and while the defendant wrestled with the victim he shot her. When the defendant could not demonstrate the events the defendant changed his statement to the fact that the victim pulled a gun on him and he was able to get the gun away from the victim and then shot her in the head as self-defense. When asked about the location of the gun, the defendant stated he threw it away on his way home after the shooting. Adams, III further confirmed that he knew the victim was pregnant and that he could possibly be the father.
Adams remains held without bond at the Falkenburg Road Jail in Hillsborough County, Florida, records show.
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