Man Arrested After Woman's Body Found In Miami Beach Apartment
MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) - A man was taken into custody and charged after a body was found in a Miami Beach apartment after a SWAT standoff.
It began when a friend of the woman went to her at her apartment on the corner of 74th Street and Carlyle Avenue Wednesday night.
She would later tell police she had not seen her friend since mid-month.
When the woman got to her friend's apartment, she noticed a foul odor coming from it and there were a lot of flies. When she knocked on the door, a man answered and then slammed the door in her face.
That man was later identified as 53-year-old Russel Ewing. Police say the victim and Ewing had been married at one point, got divorced, and then got back together again. Ewing was a cook at the Flanigans restaurant in Surfside up until a couple of months ago.
Sensing something was wrong, the woman called the police.
When officers arrived, a naked Ewing opened the front door with a knife in his hand. Police then tried to reason with him to drop the knife and come out. He refused.
At one point they saw a disturbing image through the window.
"They had a visual line of sight of him, who was laying on a bed with a knife," said police spokesperson Ernesto Rodriguez said. "He initially refused all commands, all commands from law-enforcement personnel on the scene."
He eventually surrendered. When police entered the apartment, they found the decomposing body of a woman in the living room.
After being questioned, Ewing was arrested and charged with second-degree murder with a weapon.
Ewing reportedly told investigators he and his ex-wife had argued over finances. He said when he took out his kitchen knife out of a bag and turned around he accidentally stabbed her in the abdomen, according to police, according to his arrest report.
Ewing said he was too afraid to call for help.
When asked when this happened, Ewing reportedly said October 20th - 11 days ago.
