A Florida man has been arrested following the murder of his young son’s mother, whose body was found shot multiple times in the back of her own car last month, Fox 13 reports.
Phillip Stapleton, 32, is charged with principal to murder in the first-degree and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in connection with the July 20 death of 22-year-old Ashley Voss, according to a press release from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Stapleton was arrested Monday in adjoining Pasco County.
Authorities had already arrested another man, 32-year-old Aurelio Diaz, who allegedly fired the gun that killed Voss. He is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, according to WTSP-TV.
Just before the shooting, Voss had allegedly texted Stapleton her location in the Seffner community, just east of Tampa. A doorbell camera later recorded Diaz walking up to Voss’ vehicle and shooting her through a window while she was in the driver’s seat outside her grandmother’s home.
In interviews with police, Stapleton claimed that he told Diaz only to prank Voss, a scheme that Stapleton alleged involved dumping feces on her doorstep.
“[Stapleton] stated when he picked up the defendant they planned to go to the victim’s residence and for the defendant to defecate on the victim’s front porch,” an affidavit obtained by Law & Crime reads. “[Stapleton] pointed out the victim’s residence, and the defendant later exited the witness’ vehicle to defecate on the victim’s porch. [Stapleton] stated at no time did he talk to the defendant about killing the victim, shooting the victim, or harming the victim. They were only playing a ‘prank’ to have the defendant defecate on the victim’s porch.”
Stapleton also allegedly helped police develop evidence against Diaz, including recording phone calls with him in which he incriminated himself.
But Diaz maintained in those conversations that Stapleton had directed him to shoot Voss, at one point telling him: “I did it just like I told you, walked up to the back window, and boom,” Diaz allegedly told Stapleton during one of the calls, according to Fox 13.
Family members told police that Voss and Stapleton had been arguing about child support around the time of the killing, and that Stapleton was threatening.
“She had very little conversation with him up until the child support issue came up,” Rhonda Voss, Ashley’s grandmother, said, according to Fox 13. “I heard several conversations. I heard them these were conversations on the phone, not text messages where he told her, ‘You need to stop this. This better stop. If you know what’s good for you, you better stop this.’ I heard that with my own ears. And Ashley came to me and asked me, how can we stop this?”
Voss’ grandparents are now caring for the woman’s 22-month-old son whom Stapleton fathered, in addition to a 4-year-old son.
A GoFundMe page is raising money to support the surviving children and to help cover costs of Voss’ funeral.
Featured Image: Ashley Voss and her children/GoFundMe, Center; Aurelio Diaz/Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Left; Phillip Stapleton/Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Right
