Sinister new details of a murder in the woods behind a Tallahassee apartment complex indicate the suspect believed he was battling spirits trying to possess him through the woman he is accused of killing.

Little Owens, 41, told investigators he lived in different “dimensions,” and that he killed the woman and burned her body to ash because he believed “she was a ‘witch’ which needed to be burned.”

He is undergoing a competency evaluation and is being held without bail.

Owens was arrested in a homeless encampment behind the Sand Pebbles Apartments on Pensacola Street on Tuesday on charges of second-degree murder and abuse of a dead human body. The apartments are directly across the street from the Kearney Center, Tallahassee’s homeless shelter.

The back story: Witness: Suspect said to have burned woman to 'kill her demons'

Tallahassee Police are still working to positively identify the woman but have indicated her name may be Sonja Bogan based on photos shown to Owens.

At about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, TPD was called to the encampment after several people reported seeing a dead body on fire in a moldering pile of clothing in the woods.

Owens was later found inside a tent in the woods where investigators also found an oyster shucker and butcher knife with blood on it.

Owens told police he may have been responsible for the homicide and admitted to setting the body ablaze after the woman was dead.

“It appeared the defendant was suffering from a mental illness,” police wrote in court records. “Though he stated there was a dead body nearby and made statements indicating he may be responsible for the body being inside the fire.”

He described how the woman struggling against him and that he “had to put the cross on” her, explaining he used a crucifix during the homicide and a hood to cover her face.

“(Ownens) admitted to battling several spirits who have tried to possess him,” investigators wrote. “The ‘ghosts’ would come to him in the form of ‘Sonja’ and he had to defeat her.”

Contact Karl Etters at ketters@tallahassee.com or @KarlEtters on Twitter