A 55-year-old Ocala man has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the brutal death of his husband, 59-year-old Timothy Floyd Smith.
At around 8 a.m. on Friday, November 3, Marion County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes detectives arrested Herbert Kurt Swilley on charges of first-degree premeditated murder and tampering with evidence in a criminal proceeding.
Earlier this year, at around 10:50 a.m. on March 25, MCSO deputies responded to an apartment located in the 1900 block of SE 40th Street Road in Ocala to conduct a well-being check on Smith after he failed to show up for work the previous day.
When deputies entered the apartment, they located Smith’s deceased body. He had a dark ligature mark on his neck, and he had sustained blunt-force trauma to his face and genitalia, according to MCSO.
A Major Crimes detective took charge of the homicide investigation. Over the next several months, the detective gathered video surveillance, electronic evidence, and spoke to individuals who knew Smith and Swilley.
According to MCSO, the investigation revealed that on the night of March 23, or in the early morning hours on March 24, Smith was dosed with a large amount of diphenhydramine (an ingredient in Benadryl and Unisom) that was “30 times higher” than the normal dose.
The sheriff’s office stated that Swilley proceeded to murder Smith by “choking him to death with an unknown ligature and fracturing his cervical spine.”
After the murder, MCSO stated that Swilley transported Smith’s body from their shared residence to a nearby apartment that they maintained. Once there, Swilley allegedly placed Smith’s body inside the residence, “staged a fake crime scene,” and used household cleaning agents in an attempt to destroy evidence.
After returning to his residence, Swilley drove Smith’s vehicle to the apartment, where it was left. Swilley then walked back to their residence where he accessed their Ring camera application, and investigators later learned that surveillance videos from around the time of the homicide were not present. A few hours later, Swilley drove to a landfill and was observed dropping off two carpets from their residence before “going about his day,” according to the sheriff’s office.
MCSO stated that the investigation revealed that Smith had previously suffered domestic abuse by Swilley. Investigators also discovered that Smith was in the process of securing a new job in another county at the time of his death, and he had planned on relocating there without his spouse.
In addition, Swilley “stood to profit” from Smith’s death since he was listed as a beneficiary on the victim’s life insurance policies, which totaled $333,000, according to MCSO.
In a media release on Friday, November 3, MCSO stated that Swilley initially “pretended to be cooperative” with law enforcement and provided a preliminary statement. The investigation eventually revealed that “many of the things” Swilley told investigators were “false, self-serving, or contradicted by other evidence.”
When detectives attempted to interview Swilley about these discrepancies, his attorney informed law enforcement that he would only cooperate if he was provided immunity from prosecution for Smith’s murder, according to MCSO.
Detectives obtained a warrant for Swilley’s arrest earlier this week, and he was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail on Friday morning. He is being held at the jail without bond.
A court date has not been scheduled yet, according to jail records.
Smith was an Executive Director at Brookdale Senior Living and a fixture in the Ocala business community. Whether it was through events he hosted for hundreds of people each year, including the popular Festival of Trees, or through appearances at networking events, Smith was well-known by many as a kind, sincere, and thoughtful man. His loss was felt heavily by those who knew him, including dozens of members of the Ocala Chamber and Economic Partnership who regularly interacted with him.