TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Newly released court documents are revealing more about what led a Tallahassee man to kidnap and murder 26-year-old Elisa Thompson last week.
According to an arrest document, on Nov. 30, Reginald Gibson was taken into custody at gunpoint at Talla Villa Apartments.
That day, around 1:16 a.m., Tallahassee Police received a call that Elisa Thompson and her vehicle were missing. The caller said that school staff had contacted him earlier that day and said that Thompson failed to pick up her kids from school.
As police began investigating, they spoke to witnesses at Thompson's call center job who said they saw a man get into the drivers seat of Thompson's black Nissan Rogue on the afternoon of Nov. 29.
The arrest document says Thompson slid over to the passenger's side and the man drove away from the parking lot "at a high rate of speed."
Investigators say Thompson's cellphone records indicate that the device left from her job and was in the 700 block of West Tenth Avenue between 1:15 p.m. and 1:50 p.m.
Investigators then spoke with Gibson's ex-girlfriend, who said he had kidnapped her at knifepoint on Nov. 27. During the incident, the victim said Gibson drove her to a home on West Tenth Avenue and held her against her will for three hours before he allowed her to leave.
While being interviewed, the victim said that Gibson burglarized her home on Nina Hills Court on Nov. 29 and discarded a cellphone in her back yard.
Documents say that surveillance footage from the Nina Hills Court home showed Thompson's car backed into the driveway. A man, later identified as Gibson, then got out the car, wiped off the cellphone and threw it into the backyard. Investigators later recovered the cellphone and determined that it belonged to Thompson.
At 5:21 p.m. on Nov. 30, police received a 911 call. The caller told police that Gibson was at Talla Villa Apartments. The caller said that Gibson was likely carrying a knife and had admitted to murdering a woman. According to caller, Gibson also admitted to parking a black Nissan Rogue in the parking lot of Movies 8 on Sharer Road.
When police officers responded to the apartment complex, they found Gibson. While at gunpoint, documents say he didn't obey commands and repeatedly reached for his pocket as if he was armed. During the encounter, he told officers to shoot him.
Gibson was ultimately taken into custody after being tased. Prior to being handcuffed, documents say he took out a folding knife from his pocket and threw it to the ground. Investigators said the blade was locked open and had blood on it.
About 30 minutes later, officers found Thompson's car in the Movie 8 parking lot and found her in the trunk of the car. Documents say Thompson was dead and had suffered "obvious trauma from a sharp instrument."
Investigators then interviewed the witness who helped them find Gibson. According to court documents, that witness told officers that the two met up at an apartment on Canton Circle.
Gibson told the witness about how he had "messed up." According to the witness, Gibson stated he had been in a sexual relationship with Thompson and "she was going to make an allegation he raped her."
He told the witness that he stabbed Thompson and rode around in her car to look for his ex-girlfriend. At one point, he admitted to following her in Thompson's car but kept driving when she was stopped by a "deputy."
While driving, documents say Gibson told the witness he heard Thompson "kicking," so he stopped the car and stabbed her again in the chest. The witness said Gibson stated that he then knew Thompson was dead. When asked how, he described that when he stabbed her the final time, "she stopped moving."
Documents say investigators searched Gibson's home on West Tenth Avenue and found blood stains on a pillow, the mattress, and the walls surrounding the bed. A female earring and a white jacket reportedly worn by Thompson before she left work was also recovered from his bedroom.
When investigators spoke with Gibson later that night, he said that he was angry at his ex for pressing charges for the incident on Nov. 27.
On Nov. 29, he traveled to the call center where both his ex and Thompson worked, in an effort to look for his ex. He said he had walked through the parking lot looking for her car, but couldn't find it.
While in the parking lot, he saw Thompson walk out of the building to her car and approached her. Documents say he told investigators that he knew Thompson through a previous "causal relationship."
Gibson told police that he asked Thompson to drive him away from the call center, but she declined, saying she had to go back to work after a short break. However, he eventually got her to move to the passenger seat so he could drive out of the parking lot.
Documents say that when asked how he convinced Thompson to let him drive, Gibson told investigators, "I guess I scared her... I told her I didn't want to hurt her." After admitting that he took Thompson against her will, Thompson stated, "I told her not to get out because I didn't want the police to come."
According to the arrest report, Gibson stated that he first drove Thompson to his Tenth Avenue home. Once there, he said that he and Thompson had consensual sex. Investigators say that's when Gibson became "hesitant about describing what occurred next."
During the interview, documents say he skipped ahead to events that happened that same afternoon, saying that he drove Thompson's car to an apartment on Texas Street where he saw his ex with another man.
Gibson also admitted to driving Thompson's car to his ex's Nina Hills Court home where he dropped Thompson's cellphone. He stated that he broke into that home in order to find a gun to "end his life."
Eventually, he told interviewing investigators what happened while he and Thompson were at his home.
He said that he was in a rage over what his ex had done saying, "pissed isn't even the word... I didn't care anymore." He said that he intended to find his ex even while he was with Thompson.
After the sex act was completed, documents say Gibson told police that Thompson tried to leave the home. He said he feared that Thompson would call law enforcement if she was allowed to leave.
"Gibson would not provide a detailed admission as to how he carried out Thompson's murder," documents say. "However, at no point - even when challenged directly - did he deny that he had committed the murder."
Based on the evidence, Gibson was charged with Thompson's kidnapping and murder.
Gibson is being held on a $338,500 bond for charges related to Thompson's murder and the kidnapping of his ex two days earlier.
His charges are as follows:
- First degree murder
- Kidnapping (x 2)
- Carjacking
- Burglary with assault
- Armed burglary
- Burglary
- Grand theft
- Possession of weapon or ammo by a convicted felon
- Resisting arrest
