The 20-year-old Marine accused of killing a 26-year-old escort in Florida has been extradited to Escambia County Jail.
Willie Ellington, an active-duty Marine onboard NAS Pensacola, is charged with the first-degree murder of Tshey Bennett, whose body was recovered Dec. 18 in a ditch in Mobile, Ala.
Ellington is charged with public order crimes, obscene-material possession, homicide and obscene communication.
Ellington was originally arrested in Opelika, Ala., a city near Auburn. He was in a Lee County, Ala., jail before his extradition to Escambia County.
Family members reported Bennett missing on Dec. 14. She was last seen the day before.
Investigators grew suspicious after a look through Bennett’s hotel room at Sweet Dream Inn, just off Davis Highway.
“The door was left open. Her car was left in the parking lot. Her phones were left in the hotel room,” Sheriff Simmons said. “There was a cord — PlayStation-type cord — in the room, and the bedding from the bed was missing as well.”
Sheriff Simmons said his team worked the missing persons case as a potential homicide, obtaining nearly 10 search warrants.
Further information led them to Mobile, where Bennett’s body was eventually found in a ditch in the Birdville area.
“We found out that he had been to the Mobile area,” Sheriff Simmons said. “Investigators did a good job tracking that area and, unfortunately, found the victim. The body was discarded in an abandoned neighborhood in a ditch, water-type retention area, over in Mobile.”
Ellington could face federal charges since it appears he moved Bennett’s body across state lines.
Capt. Jacoby Getty, Training and Education Command, Quantico, Va., said Ellington is a Marine student assigned to Marine Aviation Training Support Group – 23. He had been stationed at NAS Pensacola since September 2024.
“Training Command is aware of the ongoing investigation and is committed to working closely with local authorities to support their efforts,” Getty said in a statement.
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