Family searches for answers after boyfriend charged with Fort Worth woman’s killing
Fort Worth police arrested a man Monday who is accused of killing his girlfriend.
Maurita Lynell Ducker, 53, was found dead in her apartment in the 2800 block of Ballington Drive on Saturday morning. Ducker’s cousin, Gina Smith, said the family did not know much about how she died except that Fort Worth police told them it was “brutal.”
“This is a big shock for our family,” Smith told the Star-Telegram. “When you hear the word brutal, the worst things come to mind immediately.”
L.K. Williams, 60, was arrested Monday and charged with murder, according to police records. He was the one who called 911 early Saturday morning and told police he found Ducker’s body in her bedroom, according to the arrest warrant for Williams.
Williams told police that Ducker was his girlfriend and he had been staying with her for a few months, and when he left her house Friday night, she was alive and well.
He later told police he had pushed and hit Ducker in the face several times, and when he left Friday night, she was in the exact position that he found her in on Saturday morning on the floor of her bedroom, the warrant says.
A Fort Worth detective asked Williams if he caused Ducker’s death and he said, “I guess,” according to the arrest warrant.
Surveillance footage showed Williams going inside Ducker’s apartment at 2:49 a.m. and 5:34 a.m. on Saturday even though he told police he found Ducker’s body at 6:39 a.m., the arrest warrant said.
Smith said the family has no idea why someone would hurt Ducker, who had a traumatic brain injury caused by a car accident 20 to 25 years ago. She was blind in one eye and could walk and talk, but was not able to have a job.
Ducker was born in Fort Worth and had two children, two grandchildren and another grandchild on the way. She had a longtime boyfriend who died by suicide about a year ago, Smith said.
“We just need some answers,” Smith said. “How she was murdered, why she was murdered.”
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office said Ducker’s injuries were severe, and inconsistent with Williams’ statement that he had only pushed her and hit her three times. A ruling on Ducker’s cause of death was pending completion of an autopsy as of Tuesday.
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 11:53 AM.
