TAMPA, Fla. — A Hillsborough County grand jury indicted a Florida man for first-degree premeditated murder this week after a nationwide search led to his arrest.
Trent Diggs, 29, was caught in New Mexico after prosecutors say he killed his ex-girlfriend last month in Thonotosassa. Diggs was transported back to Florida on Tuesday night.
He is accused of "viciously" stabbing his former lover to death on Dec. 8 or 9 before stealing her car and driving away. The woman's name was not publicly released by law enforcement.
Hillsborough deputies forced their way into the 30-year-old woman's home and found her body after somebody who knew her couldn't reach her by phone, and family later saw blood through a window.
While that was happening back in Florida, prosecutors say Diggs was making his way west across the country.
Police in Texas actually spoke to Diggs during a traffic stop in the woman's car on Dec. 11. Authorities say he was driving, but they let him go because the car hadn't been reported stolen yet and her body had not yet been found.
Detectives later narrowed in on his location, and New Mexico state police pulled him over.
"Diggs was wearing shoes with blood from the murder scene, had fresh cuts to his hand, and had the victim’s stolen purse in the car," the state attorney's office wrote in an email.
In addition to first-degree murder, Diggs was charged with armed burglary, grand theft of a motor vehicle, and violation of a domestic violence injunction that was put against him by the same woman he is accused of killing.
“This man terrorized and murdered his victim, then tried to slip away," Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren wrote in a statement. "Thanks to great collaboration across law enforcement, we can now bring him to justice and hold him accountable for the life he took and the void he has created in the lives of the victim’s family and friends."
Prosecutors have not yet decided whether they will pursue the death penalty.
According to a criminal affidavit, witnesses described to investigators how they had heard Diggs arguing with the woman before her death. Based on the affidavit, one reportedly told authorities how Diggs would take the woman's phone and prevent her from calling law enforcement in the past.
An autopsy determined the woman, whose name was redacted in court documents, was stabbed at least 13 times.
