Woman arrested in deadly carjacking plot
A nearly two-year investigation into the death of a 26-year-old man found dead in the middle of Capella Road in Orange Park led to Monday's arrest of a 24-year-old Jacksonville woman, according to Clay County arrest documents.
Ja'Cari Dany'l Anderson of California Avenue was charged with second-degree murder and carjacking while carrying a firearm, jail records show.
The body of Dorrien Earl Mann was discovered about 8 a.m. Oct. 17, 2017, in the middle of Capella Road and was initially thought to be a hit-and-run, Anderson's arrest warrant said. But an autopsy revealed Mann, a Fletcher High School graduate, had been killed with one .38-caliber shot to the head.
"This was a simple carjacking that went bad," Sheriff's Office Sgt. Mike Calhoun said Thursday as he announced the arrest of Anderson and co-defendant Henry Zethphanya Williams.
Video surveillance showed a dark Chrysler 300 driving near the crime scene about 7 a.m., while footage from a Clay County school bus passing the site a few minutes later showed two people standing next to that car near where the body was found, the warrant said. The investigation showed they were Anderson and Williams, 18, while the Chrysler 300 belonged to Mann.
People in the neighborhood told investigators they heard a gunshot about 7:15 a.m., then the sound of tires squealing as a dark sedan fled at the high rate of speed, the warrant said. Investigators then learned that Anderson sent messages from the Mann's cellphone beginning about 8:30 a.m., about a half hour after his body was found. The messages included images of the Chrysler being offered for sale, taken at a Westside Jacksonville apartment complex on Lane Avenue.
Detectives interviewed one of Anderson's friends, who said she told him that she, her girlfriend and another man were "planning on stealing a car from the victim," the warrant said. Anderson's girlfriend told detectives they were trying to get the car from him "and in the process of doing so he was shot."
"The victim attempted to stop them from stealing the car by jumping back into the car as they were driving away," the warrant said. "... The victim's body fell off the vehicle as the vehicle was accelerating away."
The warrant said Williams, who lived in the Lane Avenue apartment complex, was interviewed May 7 by Clay County detectives. He said he was a "decoy" during the carjacking that ended with Anderson firing the gun. He was charged with carjacking with a weapon and pleaded guilty Monday, according to court records.
Mann's family attended the Thursday announcement of the arrests, opting not to comment as they passed around a photo of the dead young man in the Green Cove Springs briefing room.
Dan Scanlan: (904) 359-4549