Florida man kills girlfriend and her lover after he caught them having sex at his home, sets bedroom on fire
DAVENPORT, FLORIDA: A Florida man, who had just bonded out of jail, has been accused of killing his girlfriend and another man after he caught them having sex at his home, police have said.
Kenyatta Bellamy, 50, bonded out of Osceola County Jail on March 24 after spending a year behind bars where he was serving time for a March 2019 failure-to-appear-charge for a DUI manslaughter case.
He had then returned to his home at Royal Ridge Drive in unincorporated Davenport where he had been allowing his girlfriend to stay and found her living with another man.
Bellamy had called his mother, who lives in Miami, afterward and told her he wanted to visit her, and reportedly became angry when he learned he couldn't do so because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Things took a drastic turn on March 27 when he took his girlfriend's young son to meet family members and went out to eat with a cousin, with whom he confided that he was angry about the man living at his home.
The cousin left him at a Wawa gas station and later drove to his Royal Ridge house to check on him. She became concerned when she got no response after knocking on the door and called 911 to report a fire when she smelled smoke.
By the time first responders reached the residence after 10 pm, the fire had extinguished by itself, and inside the master bedroom, they found two bodies that of a man and a woman.
Deputies and Polk Fire Rescue personnel also noticed a strong odor of gasoline inside the home and found a gas canister that they suspected was used to set the fire.
Bellamy was eventually arrested, and during questioning, admitted he had "lost it" after he caught his girlfriend and the man having sex. He said he had used a hammer and a knife to kill the victims before lighting a fire in the master bedroom and closing the door.
Both victims had trauma consistent with injuries caused by those weapons. Autopsies will be conducted at a later date to determine the exact causes of death.
Bellamy is now facing two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted felony murder, one count of arson, and one count of tampering with evidence in connection to the case.
"If this suspect had remained in jail where he belonged, these two victims would still be alive," said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. "We are still piecing together why, after spending almost a year in jail, he was allowed to bond out."
"This is an awful tragedy that should never have happened. These people were brutally murdered, and an 8-year-old boy is left without a mother,” Judd said. The sheriff noted that according to Bellamy’s criminal history this is the third separate event where he’s caused someone’s death.
Bellamy's criminal history includes several felonies and misdemeanors, including the aforementioned manslaughter, as well as robberies dating back to the 1990s.