Melbourne man indicted in connection with strangulation death of girlfriend

The grand jury indicted a 44-year-old Melbourne man on charges he strangled his girlfriend after repeatedly biting her during a struggle.

Edward James Slatter was formally charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the March 4 strangulation of Sarah Mansfield.

Detectives arrested Slatter on June 26 on a murder charge and booked him into the Brevard County Jail Complex in Sharpes. Melbourne police initially thought the death was the result of a possible overdose.

More:Melbourne man charged with first-degree premeditated murder after girlfriend bitten, strangled

A woman called 911 to report Mansfield was passed out in a vacant home in the 900 block of Juanita Circle, reports showed.

“The guy just came to my door and asked me to call because his girlfriend had literally just fell down and passed out,” the caller reported to dispatchers, court documents showed.

Evidence from an autopsy pointed to a violent confrontation that involved Mansfield — who had a dark cloth covering her neck with a white shoelace across her chest — being beaten and strangled, police reported.

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There also were bruises across her body, police said.

Slatter told police,  “We was just in there smoking Molly,” a club drug, court documents showed.

The grand jury, sworn in Monday, heard testimony from the Brevard County medical examiner, a Melbourne police detective and crime scene investigator.

The investigation by detectives also showed Slatter had been arrested in January on charges he had punched Mansfield, breaking her nose.

He was charged with domestic violence in that case and there was a no-contact order in effect at the time of Mansfield's death, reports showed.

Slatter remains held without bond at the Brevard County Jail Complex.

A court date has not been set.

J.D. Gallop is a Criminal Justice/Breaking News Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jdgallop@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @JDGallop. 

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