Emma Kennedy

ekennedy@pnj.com

A multi-state killing spree that left four women dead ended in a standoff in Georgia Tuesday evening when suspected killers William Boyette shot himself and Mary Rice was arrested.

A tip was called in around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday that the pair were spotted at the West Point Motel in West Point, Georgia, and soon after, Troup County law enforcement had surrounded the building.

Deputies set up a perimeter around the hotel and just as SWAT was preparing to enter, Rice came outside and surrendered, according to Troup County Sheriff James Woodruff. Moments later deputies heard a single gunshot and when they entered the motel room, Boyette was found dead.

A clerk at the motel told deputies that Rice checked into the motel Monday night under her own name. Deputies confirmed there were people inside the room because Boyette and Rice opened the curtains periodically and waved at law enforcement. They also found the white Chevrolet Cobalt that was stolen from the pair's last alleged victim Monday morning.

The pair had reportedly been on a killing spree in Florida and Alabama for seven days before they were found in Georgia Tuesday, and local authorities had largely been searching a wooded area around Beulah in Escambia County where the pair had last been seen Monday.

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In a press conference Tuesday morning, Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson said Boyette knew that wooded area "like the back of his hand" and authorities believed he had grown up around there.

The week-long manhunt for Boyette, 44, and Rice, 37, involved authorities from sheriff’s offices in all three states, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Marshals, and State Attorney Bill Eddins’ office.

Authorities said numerous sightings and tips were called in to police, and social media platforms were flooded with misinformation and speculation so heavily during the search that Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan held a press conference Monday saying that posts were becoming a disservice to the investigation. Though, Morgan did ask community members with information, no matter how small, to report their knowledge to law enforcement.

SRSO issued a missing person release on Rice Saturday saying she may be in danger, but by Monday police had upgraded Rice’s status to a suspect and believed her to be a willing accomplice. The connection between Boyette and Rice has not been established, nor have authorities confirmed exactly when Rice became involved in Boyette’s crime spree.

In the minutes before the standoff in Georgia, local authorities had a large presence in a wooded area nearest the intersection of Beulah and Kingsfield roads in Cantonment. Morgan said police were investigating a tip that two people matching Boyette and Rice’s description had been seen in the area. The tip caused nearby Ransom Middle School to be on lockdown for a portion of Tuesday afternoon.

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Morgan said he was in contact with Georgia authorities just before 5 p.m. when he was informed that the suspects were in a standoff two states away.

“You breathe a little bit of a collective sigh of relief here in Escambia County, but we’ve got to remember there’s four grieving families,” he said.

Boyette and Rice are alleged to have killed Boyette’s girlfriend Alicia Greer, 30, and another victim Jacqueline Jeanette Moore, 39, at the Emerald Sands Inn in Milton Jan. 31.

Their next alleged attack was on Peggy Broz, 51, who was found shot to death in the front yard of her Lillian, Alabama, home Feb. 3. Authorities believe Boyette and Rice followed the woman home and killed her in order to steal her vehicle.

The last attack was Monday morning when they shot Kayla Crocker, 28, in her Beulah home and stole her vehicle. She was taken to a local hospital and died Tuesday afternoon.

Records show that Boyette was a habitual violent offender, having been accused of beating and stabbing previous girlfriends in the years leading up to his killing spree and eventual death.

The prosecution was forced to drop a number of charges as the victims either couldn’t be located or recanted their statements on Boyette’s abuse, and as such he never served more than a year in jail for his domestic violence accusations.

Boyette had only been out of jail four months for a probation violation when he allegedly committed the Milton double homicide.

Aside from the known relationship between Boyette and Greer, police can’t point to any other connection between Boyette and Rice to the other three victims.

State Attorney Bill Eddins said Rice faces charges of accessory after the fact to capital murder in the Milton double homicide, and charges are still pending in the attack on Crocker.

Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Anthony Lowery said Rice is facing charges of capital murder in the Alabama jurisdiction for her involvement with Broz’s killing.

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