benamarrcvh: Killing of St. Johns County woman sparked by DVD dispute

Brittany Tavar was ?still alive for a little while? after being beaten in the head with a hammer at her house in St. Johns County in July, the man accused of killing the 45-year-old told investigators.

Joseph Dean Roberts, 26, told detectives he then cut Tavar?s throat with a kitchen knife and wiped down the blood that was ?everywhere? before wrapping the body in sheets and trash bags.�

Roberts, who had been on the run for three months before being charged in Seattle with shoplifting meat from a deli, made the statements in an Oct. 13 interview in a Seattle jail before being brought back to Florida on a charge of stealing Tavar?s Toyota.

He was the last person seen with her before her disappearance was reported July 10. He was charged Tuesday with murder.

According to investigators, he admitted to killing her July 7 after an argument over DVDs he made that she was planning to use that day in seeking a restraining order against a former friend in an adjacent neighborhood.

The permanent restraining order was against Anne Richardson, 52, who had befriended Tavar but backed away after a confrontation and attack in Tavar?s South Ponte Vedra Beach home in 2009.

?She attacked me,? Richardson said Wednesday. ?She stabbed me, she strangled me, she hit me with a wine bottle.?

Though investigators eventually sided with Richardson, it was Tavar who called authorities and said she was the victim.�

She told deputies she was assaulted and told them ?she said she was going to kill me,? according to the police report.

That incident affected Tavar, said her sister, Patricia Bellamah.

?My sister was extremely traumatized by that experience,? Bellamah said. ?My sister was very afraid of Anne.?

Deputies had responded twice to calls involving Tavar and Richardson, once in January 2009 and once in May.�

Tavar was charged with battery in her home after deputies said she fought there in January 2009 with Richardson.

In May, Tavar reported she was a victim of criminal mischief at the Serenata Beach Club, claiming Richardson threw her video camera in the pool.

Richardson, who said Tavar was harassing her by videotaping her, was charged with criminal mischief but the charge was dropped.

On July 7, Richardson showed up in court about the restraining order, but Tavar did not.

Richardson said Wednesday she became friends with Tavar after the two met walking their dogs.

?She loved coming to my house,? she said. Richardson said she would work in her garden while Tavar sat and chatted.

The two bred their dogs, Richardson said, and sold the puppies.

Richardson did not know Roberts but said Tavar did have boarders, including one who said he was told to sleep in the yard. Tavar, who was supported by a family trust, was known to take people in.

She said that made other neighbors nervous.

?Everybody stayed away from her and nobody spoke to her,? Richardson said. ?Having people sleep in your backyard next to a $400,000 house is not safe.?

Richardson said she does not know what was on the DVDs Roberts made but said it may not have pleased Tavar.

?She could push your buttons,? she said.

When he was questioned in Seattle, Roberts told detectives he made the DVDs before going to bed and left them out for Tavar. He said he woke up on July 7 while Tavar was ?going off about something.?

The Sheriff?s Office has not reported what was on the DVDs.

Roberts was cooperative with investigators in Seattle, they said. In less than three hours they learned Tavar?s remains were located off Florida 207 near St. Augustine.

After killing, he fled west

?He withheld the details and downplayed his story in the beginning,? detective George Harrigan told Times-Union sister paper The St. Augustine Record. ?But it didn?t take long for him to be cooperative and forthcoming.?

Roberts? account of what happened does not help explain Tavar?s death, said Bellamah, who said she expects to have ?waking nightmares? about the killing.

?The facts of the case sort of speak for themselves,? she said. ?There aren?t words adequate to this.?

Roberts was not involved in the civil case involving the DVDs in any way, reports show.

?I don?t know what was going on in his head,? Bellamah said. ?Nothing was keeping him from walking out the door.?

Tavar had compassion for people, she said.

She said her sister was known to help those who were down and out and had delivered food and clothing to a homeless camp near where her body was found.�

After the attack, Roberts cleaned with bleach, filling five or six bags with materials used to scour the house, the affidavit said.

After dark, he said, he left in her dark blue Toyota RAV4 to take her body to the woods. �Initially he thought of putting her in her attic but abandoned that plan.

He told investigators it was difficult to put her in the SUV because rigor mortis had set in.

He brought a shovel to bury her but had problems digging into the terrain, according to investigators.

After leaving the body, he returned to the house and slept for a while before leaving for good in the SUV.

He told investigators that he took Tavar?s two dogs with him to buy him some time.

Tavar?s dogs were found wandering in a rural area outside Columbia, S.C., over the weekend of July 8. Veterinarians were able to identify the dogs through embedded microchips. They are now with a friend of Tavar?s in Jacksonville.

From South Carolina, Roberts headed toward the Pacific Northwest. Investigators followed Tavar?s credit card transactions through North Carolina, Idaho and Oregon, records show.

On July 11, he was stopped by police for excessive speed in Evanstown, Wyo., but was let go with a warning. He was seen later that day buying a tent and clothes from a Walmart in Ontario, Ore. He soon abandoned the vehicle in a Seattle library parking lot, where it remained for two months.

The trail was dead until his arrest by Seattle police.

St. Augustine Record writer Justine Griffin contributed to this report.

dana.treen@jacksonville.com,�(904) 359-4091