It was a case that rocked our community, one about a missing mother found brutally murdered.
Wednesday marked one year since the last time Tricia Todd was seen alive.
The last person to see her was her ex-husband, Steven Williams, who we eventually learned murdered her, dismembered her body and buried her in a tub of acid.
Williams is now serving 35 year sentence for second degree murder. It was part of a plea deal in exchange for showing investigators where he left her body.
On this tragic anniversary, we are learning shocking new details about the investigation.
Investigators revealed the Hobe Sound mother was bound up as Williams tried to get her social media passwords.
“He was trying to let everybody know she had gone on a flight back to Haiti on one of her mission trips,” said Detective Yesenia Carde with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. “He was trying to cover up and make it seem like she had just abandoned her child and left.”
Wednesday, friends and family chose to focus on her life and legacy, hoping to keep her memory alive.
“We had a lot of fun,” said Kendall Todd, one of Tricia’s seven brothers.
Faith and forgiveness is how Kendall Todd has coped with the murder of sister Tricia.
“I was seeking God pretty desperately,” said Kendall Todd. “It was like extreme grief. Even me like driving away from the house, I would feel like so terrible and just hurting.”
Investigators and the community searched for weeks before finally learning her ex-husband Steven Williams killed her.
“I went to high school with him and he was someone that people liked,” said Kendall.
Knowing his sister loved to blog, Kendall turned to YouTube to express his grief.
Tricia’s father David Todd said this year has been difficult but he’s found a way to forgive, too.
“It's been a very sad year,” said Todd.
Given the fact he disposed of her body, that new information that Williams tied her up, trying to get her Facebook passwords in hopes of covering his crime.
“That was a bad deal to think about her getting tortured,” said David Todd.
Todd said he believes Williams should get much more than the 35 years he’s currently serving.
“He has no business being out in society again,” he added.
Although he says he doesn’t regret agreeing to that plea deal.
“What we did by making our plea deal, we were able to find her body, what parts of it he left and find out the details of what a sociopath he was.”
Now, one year later, David Todd says he and his family are looking at the positives. He says Tricia’s daughter, Faith, is in a loving home, adopted by one of her brothers. And he believes that Tricia fulfilled a life of faith.
“We're very grateful that we had the assurance that Tricia had faith in God and had given her life to God.”
