And while by the accounts of his friends, Coats had overcome his criminal past, 33-year-old Nimrod Tillett hasn't left crime behind him. On Friday, Tillett received his third murder charge 13 years - this time for the killing of 43-year-old librarian Bernard Timmons.
As we told you last week, Timmons went to Orange Walk on Independence Day to spend time with his mother, who lives there. But around 11:30 that night, he encountered Tillett, and they had a brief argument. Tillett then reportedly returned with a machete and chopped Timmons in the neck.
And this murder has left his family, including his common-law wife and four kids, devastated. But the question they have is, why was Tillett not in prison if he was charged for two prior murders?
Courtney Menzies took a look into Tillett's past and has this story.
The family of 43-year-old Bernard Timmons is preparing to bury him after he was murdered on Independence Day. Timmons was chopped to the back of the neck, reportedly by 33-year-old Nimrod Tillett.
And if the alleged killer's name sounds familiar to you, it's because this isn't the first, or the second time he's been accused of murder. Back in 2009, he was charged for the gruesome murder of 44-year-old Enrique Castillo, who was his neighbor. Castillo had been slaughtered, reportedly by two men, after a house party. Police had suspected robbery, but his family had a feeling that, as a homosexual, Castillo was also targeted for his sexual orientation.
And though Tillett was charged for that murder, he was also charged for the killing of 30-year-old Abner Novelo, a caretaker who had worked in Yo Creek Village. He was shot and chopped multiple times, and police had indicated that the murder may have been drug related.
But, Tillett was not convicted of either murder, but did he also murder Timmons? The initial police report had said there was an argument between the two, but the police press officer was tightlipped about it today.
Courtney Menzies:
"I know initially you had said there was some type of argument between them, I think you used the work fight, and the family is saying it was just some hard talking, but what might have left to whatever altercation they had?"
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
"Like I said, the details of that will come out in Court. He has since been charged and I don't do trial in front of the media. We have to leave whatever evidence the police believe inspired them to charge for murder. We have to leave that to be aired by a jury or a judge."
But regardless of what happens in court, a family is still left to grieve the death of a man described as being quiet, calm, and caring. Today, his sister-in-law told us that they've just been going through the motions of mourning.
Earleth Shepherd, Sister-in-law of Deceased
"Honestly my sister and the entire family, we have been crying off and on, there are some days when you're able to breathe and some other days you still can't believe this really really happened like he's really gone, you know? And so we're just taking it one day at a time, one day at a time."
"It's not like we're digging up to try to find anything new because our hearts have already been broken, we're in so much pain, losing my brother in law. With my family, we are very close, so even him, he is very close to us."
"I just spoke to my niece, a couple years ago a gate had fell on my niece head, so she doesn't have tears. I asked her today, I said, how are you feeling? And she said she's hurt and she told my mom, she said, granny I wish I had tears, to show how much she's hurting but if you see her she's crying but there's no tears, there's no tears. My older nephew, I spoke to him and he said, you know aunty, I'm devastated. You know these kids are left hurt and nobody can fill the gap. An earthly man cannot fill the gap of these kids, but we're going to trust God that he's going to be the father for our niece and nephew that are left behind."
But Shepherd said that the only thing they can do now is find a way to forgive his killer.
Earleth Shepherd, Sister-in-law of Deceased
"Once it's stamped like he's actually charged, I mean, we need to come to the grip that we have to forgive him so I don't think by convicting- maybe a little, a little, but that pain will still be there so for us to get over that pain, we need to come with the grip that we need to forgive this person. We need to forgive him so that we ourselves are able to heal as time goes by because imagine we don't forgive him and we have this rage in our hearts, we will not move past the hurt and the pain so by him getting convicted, honestly, I think it was last week I had to sit down and I said, God, I'm going to forgive him and I'm going to pray that when he goes back there, he finds you before he dies without knowing you too."
Timmons was arraigned in the Orange Walk Magistrate's Court this morning and has been remanded for murder.
