JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A new arrest warrant details what led police to arrest a 26-year-old man for the first-degree murder of his girlfriend.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced Friday morning that it has made an arrest in connection to a woman’s body found floating in a lake two weeks ago.
Dedric Wesley was in court Friday. His bond was set at $500,003.
Her family said she left behind two young boys, according to a GoFundMe page.
Action News Jax told you last week when the family identified the victim as 24-year-old Beverly Febres.
Febres and Wesley were dating for about a year, according to an arrest warrant.
The arrest warrant details how police determined Wesley to be a person of interest. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office dive team found the victim’s body in Marco Lake on July 12.
When her body was recovered, they discovered a tattoo on her arm with the name “Dedric Wesley.” The victim also had two gunshot wounds to her head. Six days later, police then located the victim’s car in a vacant lot, nearly six miles away from the crime scene. Inside, they found a 9 mm casing that matched fragments recovered from the victim’s body. The passenger seat was covered in blood.
Action News Jax reporter Meghan Moriarty went to the apartment complex where Wesley lived and spoke with his neighbor. She was shocked to hear of his arrest.
“When I saw his picture, it didn’t dawn on me. Then, when I saw it again, I was like, wait a minute. I’ve seen him around here before,” Yaasmin Stevens said. “Now, I’m just super overprotective.”
Action News Jax looked into Wesley’s criminal history and found that he has been arrested three times before. He was arrested in 2017 for carrying a concealed gun. In 2020, he was arrested by JSO for drug possession, and just four days ago, he was also arrested for possession of marijuana.
The warrant said Wesley downplayed his relationship with the victim when detectives interviewed him. Wesley stated he last saw Febres at approximately 7 p.m. the night before her body was found. He said she came to his apartment around 5 p.m., then he got in her car and they hung out for two hours.
Wesley told detectives he then left to go drop off his child. He said he went to a friend’s house afterward, and he got home at 11 p.m. He said he did not go to the San Marco area where the victim’s body was found.
Prior to his arrest, detectives were told by the family of the victim that Wesley was at a T-Mobile store in Arlington attempting to buy a new cellphone, according to the arrest warrant. The manager at the store told detectives that Wesley claimed to be looking for a new iPhone.
The store manager stated Wesley said his girlfriend “went crazy and stole his phone and he wanted to suspend his account so his girlfriend could not get his calls or text messages.”
This murder is the second young mother killed in the last two weeks. Action News Jax told you Monday about former DJ Ty’Sheek’s death.
In both cases, police said, the person charged was someone the victim was dating.
“Everyone knows someone, unfortunately,” Jennifer Rodriguez said. She is the CEO of Quigley House, and she has been working with survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault for 21 years. “It seems so simple to say to somebody, ‘you got to leave, you got to get out of the relationship,’ and we’re not taking into consideration the safety factors. Leaving is a process. It usually requires a tremendous amount of support.”
Rodriguez said if you know someone in a difficult situation, you can always encourage them to call their local domestic violence shelter: Quigley House has safety plans.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline number is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
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