WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The suspect in the fatal stabbing of a Palm Beach Gardens boy has been indicted by a grand jury.
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg announced Thursday that Semmie Williams Jr. was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder.
"My office is committed to seeking justice for the family of Ryan Rogers in a case that has greatly disturbed and saddened our community and beyond," Aronberg said in a statement. "Because this is a pending criminal case, I cannot make any further extra-judicial statements as we move forward with the prosecution of this defendant."
Williams, 39, is accused of killing the 14-year-old boy Nov. 15 after he went out for a bicycle ride and never returned home.
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Rogers' body was discovered the next day in a wooded area off Central Boulevard near the Interstate 95 overpass.
Palm Beach Gardens Police Chief Clint Shannon said Williams was a "homeless drifter" who stabbed Rogers to death in what appears to have been "a completely random act."
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DNA evidence collected at the scene linked Williams to the crime.
Contact 5 previously reported Williams had tried to choke a senior citizen to death in Atlanta under similar circumstances in 2014. But an Atlanta judge, in 2018, ordered Williams released despite a history of severe mental illness.
A first-degree murder charge is punishable by up to life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.
