Will confess for food: Accused killer says he'll dish on 8 murders for more jail grub
One thing you can say about Scott Edward Nelson, the Winter Park man accused of killing a nanny in September: He's not afraid to write letters.
In perhaps the most extraordinary example, Nelson, 54, who was arrested and charged by Orange County deputies with first-degree murder in the death of 56-year-old Jennifer Lynn Fulford, has written a letter demanding better jail food, Bay News 9 reports.
In his letter to Circuit Judge Keith White, Nelson says he'll confess to eight homicides and bank robberies and dish the details to detectives if he can get a high-calorie diet in the slammer.
Nelson complains that he's lost 40 pounds of body weight since October as he awaits trial on charges that he killed Fulford.
His arrest record shows charges of first-degree murder, burglary of a dwelling with a weapon, kidnapping with attempt to harm, carjacking with a deadly weapon and robbery with a deadly weapon in connection with Fulford's slaying.
The Altamonte Springs woman, who worked as a nanny and personal assistant, was found three days after her Sept. 27 disappearance in a wooded area. Her face was wrapped in duct tape, and her wrists and ankles were bound.
Nelson was taken into custody on Oct. 1 — the day he said his current food problems began. He was imprisoned on that day for also violating his probation stemming from a 2010 bank robbery conviction in Daytona Beach.
In his five-page letter to the judge dated April 27, Nelson's handwritten block text said he's been in "the hardest and most violent penitentiaries in America" for close to 24 years but the Orange County Jail has been his absolute least favorite because of its food.
He says he wants a high-calorie diet but is being denied it because after he complained about his weight loss a doctor at the jail determined he had high cholesterol.
"I was left with the feeling that the medical department can put me on a worse diet, being a cholesterol free diet, to exacerbate my situation even worse."
He goes on to say that other inmates, in particular black inmates, are receiving the kind of high-calorie diets he desires.
"Black inmates are highly favored over white. I am starving to death here while others are well fed," he wrote.
Nelson, who said he's facing the death penalty and claims he has been "abused" his "whole life" and suffers "from mental illness," adds that he's cooperating in the Fulford case.
"I've provided a full confession, gave up unsolved armed bank robberies and promised to divulge 8 homicides. I've never been caught for this," he wrote. "I am starving to death and my insane defense team wants me to waive my right to a fast and speedy trial. No way!!"
His proffered deal has not been answered yet. Nelson's trial on the Fulford charge is scheduled to begin June 11.
This is not Nelson's first letter to a judge. In November, during his competency hearing on a federal bank robbery case, he fired off a series of profanity-laced letters to judges demanding better jail accommodations, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
A federal judge ordered Nelson to stop writing letters to judges and insisted that they be routed instead to his attorney.
“If I feel like writing the judge, I will write the judge … no matter how you feel about it,” Nelson responded to U.S. Magistrate Judge Karla Spaulding.
She told his lawyer, Dan Eckhart, that his letters, which could be perceived as threats, were "not in his best interest."
This story was originally published May 4, 2018 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Will confess for food: Accused killer says he'll dish on 8 murders for more jail grub."