Investigators said phone data, surveillance video and toxicology undercut Herbert Swilley’s account.
OCALA, Fla. — The murder case against Herbert Swilley turned on a trail of movement, medicine and timing that prosecutors said exposed a staged crime scene in the death of his husband, Timothy Smith.
Smith’s body was found March 25, 2023, in a second apartment the couple used in Ocala. At first, the scene suggested a violent sexual encounter, with investigators finding Smith dead in a bedroom and noting the apartment’s use for private meetings. But detectives later said the scene was a setup, not the place where the killing began.
The first official step came when Swilley contacted the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and said he could not reach Smith. Deputies entered the apartment with a landlord’s key and found Smith on the floor. They saw trauma to his face and neck and marks that pointed to strangulation. A strong odor like bleach stood out to examiners as they moved through the apartment. Investigators later said cleaning agents appeared to have been used in an effort to destroy evidence. Swilley, who was outside when deputies entered, told law enforcement he had last seen Smith alive at their primary home two nights earlier. Officials said he did not appear distraught when told Smith was dead, and that his account soon became a key focus of the investigation.
Detectives studied what happened between the night of March 23 and the morning of March 24. Prosecutors said Smith was at home with Swilley before he died, not at the apartment with another person. They said a massive dose of diphenhydramine, a common antihistamine, incapacitated Smith before the attack. At trial, forensic testimony showed Smith had about 2,000 nanograms per milliliter of the drug in his system, more than 30 times a normal therapeutic dose. The medical examiner ruled the manner of death a homicide and testified that Smith’s neck was broken during strangulation. Prosecutors said that evidence supported a killing carried out while Smith could not fight back. Defense attorneys questioned whether the state had proved the full timeline beyond a reasonable doubt.
The timeline tightened when investigators matched physical travel with electronic records. The state said surveillance video showed Swilley’s truck leaving the primary residence and going toward the apartment early on March 24. Digital data and video then placed him near the apartment before he returned home. Officials said he later drove Smith’s Jeep to the apartment and walked back. Prosecutors said that sequence made sense only if Swilley had moved Smith’s body first, then returned Smith’s vehicle to make it appear Smith had driven himself there. Sgt. Daniel Pinder, who worked the case for the sheriff’s office, later said investigators found no digital sign that Smith planned a late-night meeting with an outside sexual partner. Pinder said Swilley was trying to create that false impression.
The second apartment’s role gave the case its most unusual public detail, but prosecutors used it as context for staging, not as a mystery by itself. The couple had an open marriage, and the apartment was used for sexual encounters with other people, according to testimony and statements cited in court coverage. Defense lawyers argued that fact created other possible suspects and that only Smith had been using the apartment in the weeks before his death. Prosecutors answered with the digital timeline, toxicology and Swilley’s alleged statements after the killing. They said no outside person had arranged to meet Smith and no other suspect fit the records as closely as Swilley. The apartment, they argued, was selected because its appearance could mislead deputies.
Money and control became a second layer of the state’s theory. Prosecutors told jurors that Smith was the breadwinner and had been looking at a possible job in DeLand. They said Swilley feared being left financially exposed and stood to receive $333,000 in life insurance, along with access to a retirement plan worth about $48,000. Assistant State Attorney Amy Berndt told jurors that Swilley chose March 23, 2023, just before a final job interview for Smith. Friends said they heard Swilley talk about needing insurance paperwork and money after Smith’s death. Candace Baker, a close friend, said she saw Swilley and his daughter quickly discarding Smith’s belongings, including personal items and photos. The defense challenged the motive theory and stressed that financial stress alone did not prove murder.
Family testimony gave jurors another view of the night. Jordan Swilley, Herbert Swilley’s daughter, testified about hearing noises and later being told what to say if anyone asked. Trial coverage reported that she said her father told her she had not heard anything and that he had been home all night. She also described helping throw away Smith’s belongings after the death at her father’s instruction. Other witnesses described tension in the household and said Swilley’s behavior after the killing seemed flat or unusually practical. A neighbor testified about unusual traffic near the apartment. A former employee at an Ocala store said Swilley tried to donate some of Smith’s belongings days after the death. The jury heard those accounts alongside forensic and electronic evidence.
Smith’s friends pushed back against any picture of him defined only by the apartment where his body was found. They described him as an executive in senior care, an LGBTQ advocate and a lively presence in social circles around Ocala and The Villages. Michael Orsini, who performs as Twila Holiday, said Smith loved style, dancing and community events. Candy Baker said Smith helped people and left friends stunned by his death. The couple had married in 2015 after same-sex marriage became legally recognized nationwide, and Smith was remembered in local coverage as well known in The Villages senior care world. Those details shaped the victim impact side of the case, while prosecutors kept the trial focus on what happened inside the home, vehicle and apartment.
Swilley was indicted in November 2023 and went to trial in September 2025. The jury heard a week of testimony before finding him guilty of premeditated first-degree murder. He was immediately sentenced to life in prison without parole. The prosecution was handled by Assistant State Attorneys Richard Buxman and Amy Berndt. Court coverage said Swilley declined to testify, and local reporting said his attorney’s motions for mistrial and judgment of acquittal were denied. The case has since been featured in television programs that revisit homicide investigations through interviews, body camera video and trial testimony.
The conviction now stands as the final trial result in Marion County unless higher courts take up post-conviction claims. Smith’s death remains publicly tied to the digital records investigators said turned a staged scene into a murder timeline.
Author note: Last updated July 6, 2026.