A woman from Lakeland who is accused of murdering her daughter and her father and then trying to hide their bodies. She is now waiting to stand on trial on Monday. Cheyanne Jessie was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of tampering with evidence.
The victims Mark Weekly, 50, and Meredith Jessie, 6, were first reported missing on Saturday. The Polk County deputies stated on a news conference Sunday that Cheyanne Jessie, 25, placed the remains in storage bins that she put in a shed. Authorities believe that the remains may have been in the house quite some time before Cheyanne Jessie, who stayed with her boyfriend, moved them to the shed.
Grady Judd, the Polk County Sheriff also stated that Jessie got into a dispute with her father that involved her new boyfriend on July 18 at the victim’s home on in Lakeland.
Jessie said in her statement that she killed Weekly in self-defence and her daughter was caught in the middle, but deputies seem to be suspicious about her side of the story .
According to the officials Jessie changed her story several times after she reported the two missing. Her initial report to the authorities was the two were in Georgia, deputies said.
“She supposedly gets the knife from her father after the father is fighting and slashing at her with the knife and accidentally stabs the 6-year-old. None of the evidence supports this,” Judd said in her statement.
Judd believes that Cheyanne Jessie killed Weekly and Meredith Jessie at Weekly’s home, then used a shovel to put them into two bins before driving the remains 200 yards to the landlord’s house, who was away, and put the bins in a shed. Deputies serving a search warrant discover blood-stained floors and furniture with slash marks. The house reeked of a foul odor, and Cheyanne Jessie claimed there had been a dead raccoon under her porch.
A gun and knife were used in the killings, but they are waiting for the results of the autopsies to determine exactly how Weekly and Meredith Jessie died.
“Nothing is more horrific than the murder of a child, except when it’s done by a parent,” Judd said.
A friend of Weekly’s reported that Mark Weekly often helped Jessie to take care of his grand daughter.
“He would rather you take his life than mess with that baby,” said friend Fred Poore Jr.
Steven Myers
