Deputies: Man killed sleeping Polk County couple, buried bodies in swamp
HAINES CITY, Fla. - A judge denied bond for Todd Michael Jackson, 34, on Sunday. He is accused of killing Raymond and Crystal Cline as they slept in their Haines City home and enlisting his stepdaughter and her boyfriend to help bury their bodies in a swamp, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
On Friday, deputies found the bodies of Raymond and Crystal Cline dumped in a swamp behind their home in Haines City.
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Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said a tip about a woman trying to sell a truck for $200 sparked an investigation that led to the discovery of the bodies.
The seller was Amberlyn Nichols, 19, and the truck belonged to the Clines. “She actually was telling people that the victim was shot in the head and was dead and they needed to get rid of his truck and she was only asking for $200,” explained Judd.
Nichols is Jackson’s stepdaughter. She said Jackson killed the Clines in their home about two weeks ago.
“Jackson goes into the bedroom while they are asleep and murders them both,” Judd said. “The reason, he said, he murdered these folks is because they owed him $30,000.”
After the murders, Nichols said Jackson called Larry Waters, her boyfriend to help dispose of the bodies and clean up the crime scene.
“They put them on a furniture dolly and dragged them from the house on Hill Road, down into a swamp that’s behind the house and put them in the swamp.
Jackson was charged with first-degree murder. Nichols and Waters were charged as accessories to the crime and both were denied bond on Sunday.