Police arrested Tremaine Washington for the murder of a homeless man after he was heard bragging about it to a friend, the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office said in a release Monday.
Washington, 20, was convicted of killing Robert Jesse Purcell on April 20 after a weeklong trial. A jury returned guilty verdicts on charges of murder, felony murder, armed robbery and aggravated assault after less than 30 minutes of deliberation, according to the DA.
Tye Roderick Stewart, 27, is charged with helping Washington in the murder and theft, but has not yet been tried, according to jail records.
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Purcell had been living in his car behind the Marco’s Pizza on Centerville Highway in Snellville for an extended period of time. He was an employee at the pizzeria.
Washington and Stewart went to the parking lot behind the restaurant, where Purcell was asleep in his car, in the early hours of May 27, 2016. Washington and Stewart woke Purcell up and robbed him at gunpoint, the DA’s office said. Washington then shot Purcell in the chest, the release says.
The two men decided to move Purcell’s body to the trunk, but realized he was still alive, according to the release. They then slammed Purcell’s head into the pavement “at least twice” to make sure he was dead, the release says, and put his body in the trunk.
Washington drove the car with Purcell’s body still in the trunk for days after the killing. Washington also used Purcell’s phone to message the pizzeria that the homeless man would not be at work, and to research how to drive a stick shift, the DA’s office said. Purcell’s car was a stick shift and Washington only knew how to operate an automatic transition.
Washington later sold Purcell’s cell phone for $45, and discussed selling the car, the DA’s office said. Police found Purcell’s driver’s license and clothing when they searched Washington’s home. They also found text messages Washington sent to multiple people bragging “about shooting a man and taking his car,” officlas said. Police arrested Washington shortly after a woman called 911 and said that he was bragging about the killing to her nephew.
Washington initially told police that he shot Purcell in self defense, but later admitted he initiated the confrontation by committing the armed robbery, the DA’s office said.
Washington was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
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