Arrest Made in Sarasota Strangulation Death

A 47-year-old Sarasota man faces murder charges after his girlfriend was found dead in her home on Saturday.

According to the Sarasota Police Department, Brian Wilson was charged in the death of Jennifer Copeland, 43. Police say they discovered Copeland’s body when they responded to a call about a possible burglary in progress around 2:30 a.m. at 1146 Patterson Drive.

During a search of the property, police found Copeland hanging from a rope inside her garage apartment, an arrest report states. The victim’s mother told police her daughter was last seen in the company of Wilson, who was her boyfriend. The woman also told police that “Wilson had shown her a ‘hangman’s noose’ that was hanging high in the rafter of the garage sometime during the afternoon hours Friday,” the report said.

See Also:

• Bradenton Woman Killed in Hernando Crash
• Data: 73 Mass Shootings Reported in Florida Since 2013

The women, the report noted, told Wilson to take it down.

On Monday, witnesses told police that Wilson had admitted to strangling Copeland with his hands and then hanging her to make it look like she committed suicide, the report said. The same witnesses told police Wilson called them for a ride on the night Copeland died and asked them to bring gasoline, the report said.

Wilson, the report said, told the witnesses, “I need the gas to burn down the house because I just killed somebody.”

Two more witnesses also relayed similar stories, the reported noted.

Wilson was charged in Copeland’s murder on Dec. 1 while detained in the Hendry County Jail on unrelated DUI charges. Wilson, the report noted, was charged with DUI while driving a truck stolen out of Sarasota County.

Booking photo courtesy of the Sarasota Police Department