#Three suspects arrested in brutal triple murder of Florida fishing pals

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Polk County Sheriff’s Office detectives looking for the suspects who murdered three Frostproof men on Lake Streety Road Friday night
The Ledger-USA TODAY NETWORK/Sip

Two men and a woman have been busted in the murders of three friends on a Florida fishing trip, officials said Wednesday with authorities describing one of the alleged killers, who casually ordered fastfood from McDonald’s after the murders, as “pure evil”

Brothers Tony “TJ” Wiggins and Robert Wiggins, along with Tony’s girlfriend, Mary Whittemore, allegedly beat and fatally shot the three victims Friday night in Frostproof, Fla., about an hour south of Orlando — over a long-simmering beef, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Wednesday.

“I didn’t stutter. He has 230 charges in his arrest history. Fifteen convictions and two times to state prison at only 26,” Judd said of TJ Wiggins, according to Tampa Bay’s Fox 13. “He’s a thug, he’s a criminal. He’s pure evil in the flesh. He’s wild and he’s out of control.”

By chance, the group overheard victim Damion Tillman, 23, tell a clerk in a Dollar General that he and two friends, 30-year-old Keven Springfield and Brandon Rollins, 27, were going on a nighttime catfishing trip, Judd said.

The suspects then trailed the group to the lake, and jumped them, Judd said.

“You stole the engine out of my truck,” TJ Wiggins, 26, allegedly yelled at Springfield during the attack, according to Judd.

“The only evidence we have is that T.J. is mad over some kind of truck deal that happened a long time ago,” the lawman said, according to The Tampa Bay Times.

Along with his younger brother, 21, and girlfriend, 27, Wiggins allegedly beat and shot the three men, leaving them for dead, Judd said.

They then drove to an area McDonald’s, where they calmly ordered 10 double cheeseburgers and two McChicken sandwiches, according to Judd.

TJ Wiggins has been hit with charges including three counts of first-degree murder, according to The Tampa Bay Times.

Robert Wiggins is charged with tampering with evidence, and both he and Whittemore are charged as accessories after the fact, the paper reported.

They are due in court Thursday afternoon.