By Zack Mcdonald
The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.
MARIANNA — A man convicted of killing one cellmate and facing a second murder charge for killing another allegedly targeted at least one of the men because he was a child molester.
“I killed him, I killed him and now there’s one less child molester on the streets,” officers quoted Frederick Patterson III as saying after they found his cellmate Arthur Williams dead Jan. 15.
Patterson, 21, was convicted Wednesday of second-degree murder for beating to death a previous cellmate, 45-year-old Scott Collinsworth, in October 2015. On Thursday, Circuit Judge Christopher Patterson sentenced him to life in prison with no chance of parole. However, he still faces a charge of first-degree murder in connection with Williams’ beating death, which would carry a minimum additional sentence of life in prison.
Patterson had been serving a five-year stint in October 2015 when he attacked Collinsworth and beat him to death in an “ambush-style attack” at Apalachee Correctional Institution in Sneads. Williams, 82, was similarly beaten to death Jan. 15 at Jackson County Correctional Facility.
Collinsworth was serving a 15-year sentence for robbery. Williams was behind bars on charges of aggravated stalking and enticing a child into a vehicle. However, police reports indicate the two killings had the same underlying motive.
According to Marianna Police Department reports, officers arrived about 2 a.m. Jan. 15 to find Williams face-down in the men’s shared cell in a large puddle of blood. Williams was pronounced dead at the scene from “catastrophic blunt force trauma to his face,” officers wrote.
In the back of Williams’ pants, officials reported discovering two sets of documents. The first contained a picture of Collinsworth with “Chomo #1" — jail slang for “child molester” — scribbled in blue ink at the top. The second set of documents contained a picture of Williams, similarly headlined “Chomo #2" in blue ink, officers reported.
After being removed from the cell, Patterson agreed to speak with investigators about Williams’ death. He reportedly told them the two men had been cellmates in maximum security for about two weeks, and he had planned to kill Williams the entire time.
“When asked about this, Patterson replied because Williams likes kids,” officers wrote. “Patterson said Williams told him stories about touching kids during their time as cellmates.”
Patterson went on to say he prepared for the killing by hanging a blanket around the window and door to the cell early in the day so staff would be familiar with it being up. He laid in wait until after the 1 a.m. security checks, when he believed Williams would be asleep. Patterson then dragged Williams out of his bunk, stomped on his head, slammed him repeatedly into the concrete floor and continued to beat him after he appeared to be dead, officers wrote.
Officers noted that Patterson — blood on his hands, arms and stomach — then drank some water and waited about 30 minutes for the next security check.
“Patterson stated after the attack he placed Williams’ charge sheet and a picture of a prior victim in the back of Williams’ pants,” officers wrote. "... Patterson was very matter of fact and smiling throughout the interview.”
Williams, of Ontario, Canada, had been in custody since October after a 9-year-old Jackson County boy reported a man had tried to get him into his car after he got off the school bus. The child then saw the same car repeatedly in the days that followed, with the driver “looking at him, and would wave at him as he slowly passed.”
Williams was deemed incompetent to proceed on Jan. 5 on the charges of aggravated stalking and enticing a child into a vehicle he faced, but an order transferring him to a state mental facility was pending at the time of his death.
Patterson is scheduled to return to court in April in connection with Williams’ death. He has been placed in solitary confinement.
©2018 The News Herald (Panama City, Fla.)