Kris Wernowsky
kwernowsky@pnj.com
A judge set bond at $500,000 for a Navy man charged with first-degree murder in the death of his pregnant girlfriend.
Investigators pulled the body of 25-year-old Samira Watkins from Bayou Grande on Nov. 3. She had been stuffed in a 36-by-17-inch duffel bag. Her face, from her mouth to her eyes, was covered in layers of duct tape. She was last seen alive Oct. 29.
Zachary Littleton, 25, a master of arms in the Navy, is accused of killing Watkins because she refused an abortion of a child he fathered. He is married and has a child. He had been held without bond.
The State Attorney's Office has not decided whether to seek the death penalty, Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said Friday. The only other possible penalty upon a first-degree murder conviction is a life sentence.
Littleton still was being held Friday night in the Escambia County Jail. He would be required to pay $50,000 to a bail bondsman for his release.
Circuit Judge Terry Terrell called the state's evidence "highly suggestive" but largely circumstantial.
Assistant Public Defender Jerome Smiley contended that the investigators did not consider other potential suspects, including Watkins' ex-boyfriend, who had been recently released from prison for battering her.
Littleton didn't testify during the half-hour hearing.
The Watkins family and Littleton's supporters declined comment as they left the courtroom.
Assistant State Attorney Bridgette Jensen presented law enforcement witnesses who recounted the evidence against Littleton.
Watkins finished her shift at the McDonald's restaurant on Pine Forest Road about 8:20 p.m. Oct. 29, the last day her family members saw her alive.
Sylvia Watkins — the victim's sister — told investigators that her sister planned to meet Littleton that night to talk about the pregnancy.
Watkins met Littleton in August. Soon afterward, Watkins told Littleton she was pregnant. He demanded that she get an abortion, the sister told officers.
Pensacola police detective Jonathan Thacker testified that Littleton expressed concern about the Navy and his wife learning of his affair. His wife, also in the Navy, was stationed in another state and planned to move to Pensacola.
Investigators spent days searching for Watkins' car. They found it abandoned in the driveway of a home in the 2900 block of Bellview Avenue. Neighbors told police they first noticed the car on Oct. 30.
Smiley said it's impossible to know whether Littleton actually drove the car. No fingerprint evidence was disclosed at the hearing. Smiley went on to say that Watkins' ex-boyfriend lived four miles from where investigators found the car.
"The state's case is based on inferences based upon inferences," Smiley said.
Investigators found several paper towels with a particular floral pattern and premoistened disinfecting wipes in the duffel bag that contained Watkins' body.
A golden, hoop earring was in Watkins' ear when her body washed ashore in the bag. When investigators searched Littleton's apartment on Nov. 6, they found one that matched.
Investigators also found a roll of paper towels that matched the design pattern on a towel found in the bag along with containers of Lysol and Clorox disinfectant wipes, Thacker said.
A search of Littleton's laptop revealed Web searches on Oct. 22 and 28 for "what speeds up human remains decomposition," "what speeds up body decomposition," and "how to pass a polygraph," Chris Wilkinson, a computer crimes investigator with the Pensacola police said.
Littleton is due back in court Feb. 16.
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