LAKELAND, Fla. — A man killed his girlfriend, buried her next to their RV and then called his mother to tell her what he did, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
The agency said its investigation started Saturday when a woman called the Auburndale Police Department to report her son had just told her he killed his girlfriend.
Police then looped in the sheriff's office, asking deputies to do a well-being check on 37-year-old Jason Robinson's girlfriend.
The couple lived together in an RV on U.S. 98 North, near Keen Road.
When a deputy got to the couple's RV, he says he saw Robinson sitting outside. Robinson gave the deputy a fake name and date of birth, the sheriff's office says.
But the fake information didn't fool the deputy, the agency said, because he looked up Robinson's photo before getting there.
As the deputy tried to take Robinson into custody, the sheriff's office says Robinson "violently" attacked the deputy. He took the deputy's radio and Taser and then tried to choke the deputy, the agency said.
Two witnesses happened to see the struggle and came to the deputy's aid.
Later, as deputies say they were looking for Robinson's girlfriend, they saw two chairs and a small table sitting on top of a pallet next to the RV door. Freshly disturbed dirt rested on the pallet.
Robinson's girlfriend was found buried beneath the pallet, deputies say.
The sheriff's office says Robinson was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, battery on a law enforcement officer, two counts of tampering with evidence, resisting with violence, depriving an officer with means of communication/protection, and giving false identification to a law enforcement officer.
The sheriff's office says Robinson has prior criminal history in Florida, including 19 felonies and five misdemeanors. He has been in state prison four separate times and was most recently released in January 2021.
Deputies say his previous charges included kidnapping/false imprisonment, aggravated battery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, sex offender violations, numerous battery charges and giving false information to law enforcement.
The sheriff's office says Robinson also has an "extensive" criminal history in Illinois, Delaware, Mississippi and North Carolina.
“I can’t express my gratitude enough to the two witnesses who jumped in to aid my deputy during a violent fight with a very violent man. Had they not gotten involved, this could have been much worse than it already is. I’d also like to extend our condolences to the family of the victim," Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.