A MARINE has been charged with the murder of a missing reality TV star after she was found dead in a pond.
The remains of Tshey Bennett, who starred on the show Skrippa Bootcamp, were discovered in a ditch in Mobile, Alabama, on Wednesday – around 50 miles from where she was last seen.
Bennett, 26, was last seen at the Sweet Dream Inn hotel in Pensacola, Florida last Friday.
Cops said she was working as an escort when she met Willie Ellington, a marine.
Ellington, 20, was arrested earlier this week and has been charged with her murder.
Cops launched a probe and revealed what they had uncovered.
They believe the attack may have been premeditated.
Cops revealed they came across a series of Google searches that raised suspicion.
Chip Simmons, the Sheriff of Escambia County in Florida, claimed one of the searches Ellington was ‘What does a body look like, a dead body look like, after two days?’ as reported by the NBC affiliate WPMI-TV.
Other searches were related to unsolved prostitute murders and strangulation, according to the cop.
Cops are still working to find out a motive behind Bennett’s death.
“I think the fact that we think he used her occupation, the position she was in, to go after her — he had Googled different things — he felt like this was someone he could victimize and get away with it,” Simmons told the outlet.
Police also combed the hotel in the hunt for evidence.
Bennett’s car was still in the parking lot, her cell phone in the room, and the door was ajar.
Bedding had been taken from the room, and cops discovered a PlayStation-like cord.
“It’s a heck of a case,” Simmons said.
“It’s disturbing. It’s chilling some of the stuff we found out in the course of the investigation.”
The disappearance and death of Tshey Bennett
REALITY TV star Tshey Bennett was found dead – days after she was last seen at a Florida hotel. Marine Willy Ellington, 20, has been charged with murder.
Friday, December 13: Bennett and Ellington meet at a Florida hotel.
Saturday, December 14: Bennett’s family reported her missing. An urgent search is launched.
Wednesday, December 18: Bennett’s body found. Ellington is charged with her murder
The reality TV star was reported missing on December 14, sparking an urgent hunt.
Family and friends were concerned as her cell phone had been turned off – even though it still had charge in it.
Police said the evidence found on Ellington’s phone helped them find Bennett’s body.
He fled the area on a bus heading to Opelika – a city around 230 miles from Mobile.
Dive teams were drafted in as part of the search.
Ellington was arrested on suspicion of murder and has since been charged.
He has also been hit with child pornography charges.
Ellington is a private first class in the Marine Corps and was part of the Marine Aviation Training Support Group-23.
MATSG-23 was formed during World War II and is stationed at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola.
