COURTNEY WILKES - 15 yo/ Murdered in FL - Lyons (W of Savannah) GA

TOOMBS COUNTY, Ga. --

Authorities said a 15 year-old girl from Toombs County was murdered and a Florida man has been charged with her death.
The Walton County Sheriff's Office in Florida announced Friday the arrest 21 year-old Steven Anthony Cozzie of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, for the murder of 15 year-old Courtney Wilkes of Lyons.


Officials said her family reported her missing Thursday afternoon
after she did not return from a walk with someone she had met while
vacationing in Seagrove Beach, Florida.
Deputies said her body was found in a wooded area not far from where her family was staying.
Family members said Courtney Wilkes was the oldest of three children and well-loved by all. On Friday, family and friends in Toombs County were still reeling from the news that she was gone, taken in what a Florida sheriff called a "purely predatory attack".
"She was beautiful to look at, very outgoing. She loved everybody and everything. But her main goal was to be a veterinarian. She was studying real hard, A+ student," said Julia Phillips, Courtney's great aunt.
Phillips said her grandniece never met a stranger. She said it is hard to accept that the bright young woman is gone.
"Why anybody would want to hurt a person that all you could see would be the goodness in..." pondered Phillips Friday afternoon.
But Courtney died in what authorities called "an extremely violent encounter" after her parents reported her missing while on vacation in Seagrove Beach, Florida.
"Courtney had gone for a walk down the beach with this young guy, that seemed to be a very nice fellow," Phillips said she was told.
Walton County Sheriff Michael Adkinson, Jr., said in a news conference Friday afternoon in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, that he is confident Cozzie is the man responsible.
"We believe that Cozzie
is a person that without any other regard to the life or to the dignity
of this child maliciously and willfully took her life through an act of
violence," he said.
Adkinson said Cozzie met the Wilkes family while he was staying at a campsite near their condo. Investigators said he has shown no remorse.
"I'm
going to be honest with you, that was the booking picture taken this
morning. I think it says everything you need to say about him," he said. Adkinson also added it was clear Cozzie is "an individual with evil in his heart".
All of this information has been difficult for Courtney's family in Toombs County to understand.
"Good
Christian family... and for something like this to happen to a girl
that's just beginning to know what life's about is just awful," said Phillips.
It has also been a tough case for law enforcement as well.
"There's
very little satisfaction in making an arrest because there's nothing I
can do to bring this child back to her parents," said Adkinson.
The community is mourning the future of a promising young girl that was brutally taken and struggling to cope with the tragedy.
"It's a bad loss. This is a loss not just to the family but to the rest of the world," said Phillips.
Courtney would have turned 16 on July 9. She would have been a junior at Toombs County High School this fall.
Investigators said Cozzie has been charged with an open count of murder, and more charges are expected.
http://www2.wsav.com/news/2011/jun/17/11/teen-toombs-county-murdered-while-vacation-florida-ar-1990394/

Walton County, FL --

The man accused in the brutal murder of a Toombs County teen, Courtney Wilkes, says he is not guilty.
Steven Cozzie entered that plea in writing to a Walton County, Florida court Monday.
Cozzie faces charges of 1st degree murder, sexual battery, armed kidnapping and child abuse.


Wilkes was vacationing with her family in Seagrove Beach last month when she went for a walk with an acquaintance she met at the beach. She wasn't seen again.
Her body was found in the woods three days later
Investigators say there is a large amount of physical and eyewitness evidence proving Cozzie murdered Courtney.
Cozzie is being held in Walton County jail without bond.
His next court appearance is scheduled for September 22.
Wilkes attended Toombs County High School, and would have celebrated her 16th birthday July 9.
http://www2.wsav.com/news/2011/jul/18/wilkes-murder-suspect-pleads-not-guilty-ar-2156194/

State Attorney Bill Eddins announced Tuesday that his office will
seek the death penalty if it obtains a conviction in the murder case
against Steven Cozzie.

Cozzie, 22, is charged with the June 16 killing of Courtney Wilkes, a
popular 15-year-old girl who was vacationing in Seagrove Beach with her
family from Georgia.

Cozzie, a resident of Seagrove Beach, also is charged with aggravated
child abuse, armed kidnapping and sexual battery, according to a news
release from the state attorney’s office.

Read a copy of the press release from the state attorney's office. »

View a slideshow from the crime scene.

Walton County Sheriff‘s Office reports indicate Wilkes died from a
blow or blows to the head. A friend of Cozzie’s told investigators that
Cozzie said he killed her with a stick, according to the reports.

At the time of Cozzie’s arrest, Sheriff Mike Adkinson called the crime he was accused of “nothing more than pure evil.”

Adkinson said Tuesday he wasn’t surprised by the state attorney’s decision to seek the death penalty.

“It’s highly appropriate,” Adkinson said. “There’s a reason we
maintain the death penalty. Cases like these are exactly why we do.”

A committee of senior state attorney’s office officials evaluates
homicide cases in which the death penalty is being considered. Eddins
said cases that warrant a death penalty review are examined for the
“heinous, atrocious and cruel” aspects of the crime.

“We also evaluate whether or not the crime occurred during the commission of another violent crime,” he said.

A pre-trial hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 15.



Read more: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/cozzie-42729-seek-penalty.html#ixzz1VFs6LvAM

Steven: I am guessing that you are not smiling nearly as wide now. What the hell was so effing funny that you put on a grin like this for your mug shot???
Those pitcher handle ears of yours are gonna come in handy while you are in jail awaiting your death sentence.
When you get to hell be sure to give ol' Beelzebub a big smile, too!