A Florida handyman has been arrested over the brutal murder of his 59-year-old husband who he allegedly drugged with 30-times the recommended dose of antihistamine and then stashed his body in an unused apartment in a $333,000 insurance scheme.
Herbert Swilley, 55, was arrested on Friday and booked on Saturday for first degree murder and evidence tampering for the alleged killing of Timothy Floyd Smith. He is being held without bond at the Marion County Jail, Law and Crime reported.
Swilley allegedly choked his lover to death so violently he broke his neck. He then dumped the body in an unused apartment in Ocala where he staged a fake crime scene, cops say. He attempted to use household cleaning agents to destroy evidence, and tried to delete data from their Ring camera, investigators claim.
Police conducted a welfare check on March 25 when Smith, who worked as an executive at an assisted living home in Orlando, did not show up at work.
Investigators claimed that Smith was a victim of domestic abuse and was planning to relocate to another country without his partner and start anew. Swilley was also the beneficiary to his spouse’s hefty life insurance policy and stood to profit hundreds of thousands of dollars from his death, detectives claim.
A mug shot of Kevin Swilley, 55, who was arrested on Friday and charged with first-degree murder over the death of his partner, Timothy Smith, 59 in March 2023
Victim: Timothy Floyd Smith, 59, an executive at an assisted living facility in Orlando was drugged before he was allegedly strangled to death by his partner
Herbert Swilley, 55 (left) with his husband Tim Smith, 59, during happier times. Investigators claim that Smith with the victim of years of domestic abuse
Authorities claimed that Swilley gave Smith a mega dose – 30 times the recommended dosage – of diphenhydramine, an ingredient in over-the-counter allergy and sleep medications, before he strangled him to death.
Police believe that Smith was killed between March 23 and March 24.
After the murder, ‘Swilley returned to their residence and then drove Timothy’s vehicle to the apartment where he left it,’ as per deputies, Law & Crime reported.
‘Swilley then walked back to their residence where he accessed their Ring camera application; investigators later learned that surveillance videos from that night were not present.
‘Then, a few hours later, Swilley drove to the landfill where he dropped off what appeared to be two carpets from their residence before going about his day.’
During the investigation as detectives were building the case, they found mounds of evidence that uncovered years of domestic violence, an alleged cover-up attempt and a financial motive in the slaying.
Chilling details reveal that Swilley may have snapped when he learned that his spouse was planning to move to another country get a new job and leave their toxic relationship behind.
In August, on the same day Swilley was named the prime suspect in the death of his partner, he posted an eerie Happy Anniversary message on his Facebook.
Swilley wrote an eerie ‘Happy Anniversary’ post to his dead lover, the same day investigators named him as aprime suspect in the murder
He wrote, in part: ‘To my very loving husband. I know you are up there looking down on us and taking care of us. You will always be in my heart and thoughts …
‘To be honest, I miss you everyday and wish you were here. Life isn’t the same without you. I miss your smile and your loving spirit.’
He ended the post, ‘Love, Herby.’
In April, only weeks after Smith’s death, Swilley solicited more than $2,200 in donations through GoFundMe to cover the expenses of a ‘celebration of life,’ Fox News reported.
Early in the investigation Swilley was cooperating but, investigators claimed that his preliminary statement were ‘false, misleading self-serving, or contradicted by other evidence.’
When the authorities requested another interview, Swilley’s attorney said he would cooperate with investigators if he was granted immunity from prosecution for Smith’s murder.
Sandy Reils, Smith’s sister, told WESH that she learned about her brother’s murder through social media and not from her own brother-in-law, Law and Crime reported.
She shared her own suspicions.
‘Just from the first initial conversation I had with him, he changed his story in that conversation three times,’ she said.
Swilley’s next court date is scheduled for December 5.