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Slaying Suspect Tries To Hang Self In Georgia, Police Say

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SAMARA SODOS

Published: December 10, 2007

TAMPA - Timothy Craig Blackwelder, who has been charged with killing a Tampa man, tried to hang himself Sunday night while in custody in Georgia, Tampa police say.

Friday afternoon, Blackwelder shot and killed George Anthony Stewart Jr., the father of twin 2-year-old girls, police said. They say Blackwelder also drove off with Stewart's estranged wife, Brittani Stewart, who was not injured.

Detectives plan to meet with state attorney's office officials today about possibly filing kidnapping charges against Blackwelder. Charges aren't expected to be immediately filed, Tampa police spokesman Cpl. Jared Douds said.

Blackwelder tore his jumpsuit Sunday and tried hanging himself from a vent in jail, said Captain J.D. Yeager of the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office. He had been on suicide watch and was placed in isolation prior to the suicide attempt. He was checked on by a guard every 15 minutes.

A guard found Blackwelder unconscious and hanging 12 minutes after a previous check, Yeager said. Blackwelder's neck wasn't broken.

"He wasn't up long enough to get brain damage," Yeager said. "We don't feel he was hanging up there but a couple of minutes."

Blackwelder, 24, is in stable condition at South Georgia Medical Center in Valdosta, Yeager said.
Blackwelder's injuries prevented his first-appearance hearing in court today.

When told by News Channel 8 this afternoon that Blackwelder had tried to hang himself, Brittani Stewart's mother said, "Please tell me he succeeded. Sounds morbid, but. ..."

When told he hadn't succeeded, she said, "God almighty. Oh, Lord, have mercy."

After the shooting, Blackwelder traveled north with Brittani Stewart in her 2006 silver Dodge Caravan.

"The suspect called a close confidant multiple times asking to have money wired to him," a Tampa police release today says. "This confidant promptly alerted police."

The U.S. Marshals Service tracked Blackwelder to Valdosta and worked with Georgia authorities to take him into custody Saturday night, the release states.

He and Stewart were surrounded by law enforcement inside a convenience store at a truck stop near Interstate 75 in Lowndes County, Yeager said. Blackwelder was arrested without incident.

Blackwelder should be extradited to Tampa in about a week, Tampa police Lt. Charles Stanbro said Sunday.

Brittani Stewart, 22, told Tampa police she left her home at 910 W. Sitka St. with Blackwelder because she was worried about her safety. Her involvement is still being evaluated, and she has not been charged with any crimes, Douds said.

"She's made statements that she went out of fear that he might do something to do her," Douds said. "Certainly, there is some basis to back that up. … But whether or not that is actually the case is what our investigators are looking into."

Stewart's mother, Kim Tibby, said outside her home today that her daughter would be unavailable to comment.

Tibby defended her daughter, describing her as a traumatized victim.

"He took her at gunpoint after he killed her husband at my home," Tibby said.

Funeral arrangements for George Stewart have not been finalized, Tibby said.

Brittani Stewart and Blackwelder have known each other since 1998 and had, at one point, lived together, court records show.

She asked for a domestic violence injunction against him in November, and it was granted, Douds said. In the request, she said he had a problem with marijuana and was supposed to be taking medication for mental health problems but wasn't.

On Halloween, she threatened to leave, so he snatched her by the shirt and pushed her to the ground, then held her arms behind her back and put his knee in her back, she wrote. He threw her on the bed, pulled off her pants and sat on her. She screamed for help, she wrote, and he placed a pillow on her face. She had an asthma attack, she wrote, and then he pulled a knife from his pocket and threatened to kill her.

Blackwelder left but still called her and her family repeatedly, she said.

"I have twin babies and he is also calling saying he will kill me, my babies and himself so he can be with me!" she wrote. "Please help us!"

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691. Reporter Samara Sodos can be reached at slsodos@wfla.com or (813) 314-5379.

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