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Man Held In Slaying Tries To Hang Himself, Police Say

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By JOSH POLTILOVE, The Tampa Tribune and SAMARA SODOS News Channel 8

Published: December 11, 2007

Updated: 12/11/2007 09:22 am

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.

On Friday afternoon, Blackwelder shot and killed George Anthony Stewart Jr., the father of twin 2-year-old girls, police said. They say Blackwelder drove off with Stewart's estranged wife, Brittani Stewart, who was not injured.
Blackwelder tore his jumpsuit Sunday and tried hanging himself from a vent, said Capt. J.D. Yeager of the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office. He had been on suicide watch and was in isolation. He was checked by a guard every 15 minutes.

A guard found Blackwelder unconscious and hanging 12 minutes after a 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, Kim Tibby, said, "Please tell me he succeeded. Sounds morbid, but. ..."

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

After Friday's 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 Monday states. "This confidant promptly alerted police."

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

Between April 2000 and January, Blackwelder served concurrent terms in a Florida prison for convictions of robbery with a gun, two counts of burglary of a dwelling and one count of grand theft, state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said.

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

Detectives consulted with state attorney's office officials Monday to discuss adding charges against Blackwelder.

Tibby, Brittani Stewart's mother, said outside her home today that her daughter would be unavailable for 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 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 in the injunction request.

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 wrote.

"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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