A man has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2019 killing of an Oxford woman.
Ronnie James Brown, 63, was sentenced this week in Sumter County Court for the murder of Jenetta Floyd, 68. Last Monday, jurors found Brown guilty of second-degree murder. Brown was also found guilty of additional offenses in the case, which included grand theft and violence.
On September 14, 2019, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call for service regarding an unresponsive female at a home off County Road 223 in Oxford. Upon arrival, deputies discovered Floyd with apparent homicidal wounds. Authorities discovered a damaged lamp near her body. Floyd was pronounced dead on the scene.
Officials obtained testimony from neighbors, including the Browns, who were present when Floyd’s body was discovered. During the inquiry, officials discovered that Brown’s original and subsequent statements to law enforcement were continually shifting. Brown initially said Floyd had given him a ride earlier that day, and after completing some errands in her car, he returned to cut his grass. When she did not come out to chat to him as usual, he entered the house through an open sliding door in the back, where he discovered the victim unresponsive.
Detectives discovered that Brown’s grass did not appear to have been mowed as recently as previously stated. During further questioning, Brown continued to provide contradicting statements with his previous testimony to law enforcement. Officials then collected Brown’s clothing and shoes. The victim’s DNA was then compared to that found at the crime scene. Three highly incriminating pieces of evidence were Brown’s fingerprint on the lamp used during the victim’s attack, his DNA on the victim, and the victim’s DNA on his person, including Floyd’s blood on his shoelaces.
Assistant state attorneys Blake Shore and Stephen Fern prosecuted the case.
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