Man sought in murder of woman in West Miami-Dade assisted living facility
Authorities are hunting for a mentally ill man they say beat a Jamaican woman to death inside a West Perrine assisted living facility last week.
Miami-Dade detective secured an arrest warrant this week for Timmy Lee Williams, 23, who police say killed 74-year-old Rubeina Belizario on the afternoon of Sept. 4. He will be charged with murder.
Williams, who suffers from schizophrenia and has a history of minor arrests, was eating lunch on a patio area of the Rona Retirement Home when he suddenly grabbed a weightlifting bar and attacked the ALF owner/operator, police say.
During the attack, Williams also used the bar to strike Belizario, a friend of the operator. The woman, who was visiting from Jamaica, died after a blow to the head. The ALF operator survived.
Williams immediately fled the facility, which is located in a residential neighborhood in the 10900 block of Southwest 177th Terrace.
He has not been seen since, but is familiar with South Miami-Dade — Williams used to live in foster care in the neighborhood.
Records show Williams has been arrested at least 21 times in Miami-Dade since 2011, nearly always for trespassing. He served minimal jail time.
It was unclear how long Williams had been living at the West Perrine assisted living facility. An employee who answered the phone Wednesday declined to comment.
Problems at Florida ALFs are not new. The Miami Herald in 2011 published a series, “Neglected to Death,” chronicling a litany of misconduct and shoddy conditions at facilities across the state. So far, lawmakers have failed to pass several proposed reforms to the system.
In February, a fruit vendor living in a shed on the property of an Allapattah facility was stabbed to death by a mentally ill resident. The facility, New Greenview II, was shut down after a Miami Herald report on the long-troubled Miami facility.
As for the Rona retirement home, state records show, the facility passed its last inspection in June 2014. Two years earlier, an inspection uncovered several deficiencies, mostly related to how staffers completed paperwork and were trained; the problems were fixed.
Anyone with information on Williams’ whereabouts can call Miami-Dade’s homicide bureau at 305-471-2400, or Miami-Dade CrimeStoppers at 305-471-TIPS.
This story was originally published September 9, 2015 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Man sought in murder of woman in West Miami-Dade assisted living facility."