NEW PORT RICHEY, FL. – Pasco Sheriff’s Office responded to a death investigation in a wooded area in New Port Richey on April 10 after someone reported a decomposing body of a woman in the area.
Detectives continued the investigation and have arrested David Thomas, 59, for 2nd-degree homicide in connection with this death. Thomas is listed as homeless in the affidavit.
Details of the murder are graphic.
According to the arrest affidavit, Thomas and his ex-girlfriend were engaged in an argument on March 24, 2022, that turned physical.
Thomas told investigators that he kneeled over the victim’s torso, pinning down her body, and used his left forearm to put pressure on the woman’s neck, blocking her airway until she died.
Thomas said that he waited several hours, then planned to bury the victim on the north side of the property the couple resided on, located at 7101 State Road 54 in New Port Richey.
He placed the victim on a tarp, then dragged her body to the area where he planned to bury the woman. Thomas was unable to dig a hole, according to the affidavit.
Thomas then wrapped the woman in two tarps, rolling her in a third tarp to create a “casket” which he then staked into the ground and tried to conceal the body in trash and debris.
He told investigators that he then fled the area and was making plans to leave the United States.
Thomas was booked into the Land O’ Lakes jail on 2nd-degree homicide charges without incident.
The victim’s name was not released in the affidavit.
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