After a nationwide search that led to his arrest by New Mexico State Police, Trent Diggs has been indicted by a Hillsborough County grand jury for killing his former girlfriend in her Thonotosassa home last month. Prosecutors with the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office secured the indictment for first-degree premeditated murder Thursday and Diggs was returned to Florida last night.
Diggs had an active warrant and was wanted for violating a domestic violence injunction when investigators found he returned to his former girlfriend’s home and viciously stabbed her to death on December 8 or 9, 2021.
Diggs then stole her car and fled. On December 11, after a witness could not reach the victim by phone and saw blood in her home through a window, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office deputies forced entry into the home and found the 30-year-old victim’s body.
Using various investigative techniques, Hillsborough Sheriff’s detectives tracked the victim’s Chevrolet Cruze to the southwestern United States. On December 11, just hours before the victim’s body was discovered, police in Decatur, Texas stopped Diggs for a routine traffic stop while he was driving the victim’s car; because Hillsborough deputies had not yet been called to the victim’s home and the car had not yet been reported stolen, Diggs was able to continue westward.
Additional investigation allowed detectives to zero-in on Diggs’s location, pinpointing a road in New Mexico. Working in coordination with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, officers with the New Mexico State Police moved in, pulled Diggs over, and took him into custody. Diggs was wearing shoes with blood from the murder scene, had fresh cuts to his hand, and had the victim’s stolen purse in the car.
“This man terrorized and murdered his victim, then tried to slip away. Thanks to great collaboration across law enforcement, we can now bring him to justice and hold him accountable for the life he took and the void he has created in the lives of the victim’s family and friends,” Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren said.
An indictment is a formal accusation against a person suspected of a crime. It is approved (typically phrased as “returned” or “handed down”) following consideration of the evidence by an impartial group of Hillsborough County residents serving on the grand jury.
Diggs, 29, was returned to Florida last night by law enforcement to stand trial for first-degree murder, armed burglary of a dwelling, grand theft motor vehicle, and violation of a domestic violence injunction. This prosecution is in the early stages, and the State has not yet determined whether it will seek the death penalty.
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