A Jacksonville man who has been in the Duval County Jail for the last nine months is now facing another charge: the murder of a woman with disabilities who was found dead the day he was arrested.
Police with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office charged Warren O’Neal Abernathy with the murder of Kristie Murray on Tuesday afternoon. Action News Jax first told you last July when police say Murray was found dead in a dirt lot in Jacksonville’s Biltmore neighborhood.
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Action News Jax searched through JSO records and found an arrest report from Abernathy dated back to the day Murray was found dead. He was arrested on a burglary charge after police say he snuck into a man’s house and attacked him while he was in bed with his girlfriend.
Murray’s brother told Action News Jax’s Finn Carlin about seeing the charge for his sister’s murder, after thinking there was a chance nobody would ever be held responsible.
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“You watch all these shows and you go, ‘Well, who knows if they’ll ever find this person, you know?’ So it was awesome that they were able to do that,” Mark Raymer, Kristie Murray’s younger brother, said. “But you also remember that he has a family that’s going to suffer for his actions as well.”
Raymer, who lives in Ohio, said his sister had a disability slowing her brain’s development and she often hopped from house to house meeting new people. But he said the challenges she faced never gave her life any less joy and he always looked forward to the next call he’d get from her.
“She lived an adventurous life and got to go out and do a lot of things on her own that a lot of people just don’t get to do or see. Sometimes I envy that,” Raymer said.
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Raymer tells Action News Jax he isn’t sure what kind of connection Abernathy, if he ends up being convicted, may have had with his sister. But he said his family is now focused on healing, though losing a family member is something he feels he’ll never quite get past.
“Even if you have close family members that you don’t get to talk to frequently, call them, tell them you love them, hear it from them as well. I don’t have that opportunity anymore. Take your opportunity today to do that yourself,” Raymer said.
Action News Jax has requested Abernathy’s arrest report for the murder charge and his picture from JSO, both of which we’re waiting to receive. He’s expected to go before a judge the morning of May 14.
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