Aaron Glee Jr., a Florida man with a long criminal history for domestic and other cases, is accused of murdering a Black Lives Matter protester and an AARP volunteer from Tallahassee whose bodies were found together.
The victims were identified as Oluwatoyin Salau and Victoria “Vicki” Sims by police. Both women were highly regarded in activist circles. Tallahassee.com reported: “The 19-year-old and 75-year-old met after recent protests over justice for black lives.” Salau, known as “Toyin,” spoke at BLM protests. Sims was also active in Democratic politics.
“Toyin was very passionate,” her friend Danaya Hemphill said, according to CBS News. “She was very vocal she was very loving, very spiritual, very caring. Toyin she was like a light in a dark room. That was Toyin.”
Salau and Sims were found dead in a double homicide Saturday night, June 13, the Tallahassee Police Department said Monday in a press release. According to Tallahassee Police, Salau and Sims were found dead in the 2100 block of Monday Road.
The suspect, 49-year-old Aaron Glee Jr., has been taken into custody, police said in the press release. Authorities have not released any other information about the double homicide investigation.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Glee, Who Is From West Palm Beach, Has Two Recent Battery Cases Involving Another Man & Woman & a String of Other Past Criminal Cases, Court Records Show
Orange County jail records.
Orange County, Florida, jail records show Glee is being held on a warrant out of Leon County, where Tallahassee is located, charging him with felony murder and kidnapping. He is from West Palm Beach, according to the jail records. He was arrested by the Orlando Police Department on June 14.
According to the police press release:
At approximately 9:15 p.m. Saturday night, June 13th, TPD investigators arrived in 2100 block of Monday Road in the course of a follow up investigation in a missing person case. During the course of the investigation, two deceased people were located in the area. As the investigation continued, investigators developed a suspect. The suspect is now in custody and no more information is available at this time.
Leon County court records show that Glee also had a closed 2019 case for marijuana possession and two recent cases — a battery case from June 9, 2020, and a case of aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability from May 30 that is listed as open.
Leon County court records against Glee.
There is a “pretrial defendant information” sheet for him by Leon County courts for the May 30, 2020 arrest. Under criminal history, the documents list only the possession of cannabis case but there is other information blacked out. The document says his license was not valid. Nothing is listed under employer, but the document says he was living in Tallahassee. It lists him as single and doesn’t list any medical or mental health concerns. See that document here.
Aaron Glee
WCTV reported that Glee “was released on a $2,500 bond on June 1.”
The affidavit for the May 30 arrest says that police were dispatched to the intersection of S. Blair Stone Road and Kay Avenue in reference to an assault. Glee was detained there. An officer stated that he was located at a light at Kay Avenue when he “witnessed Glee standing over (the female victim) and kicking her in the abdomen.” The officer stated that the victim was lying on her side on the sidewalk of southbound traffic. The victim in this case was not Sims or Salau.
The victim stated she knew Glee through a mutual friend. They were drinking alcohol together and while walking down the sidewalk, Glee asked her to “break me off a piece,” possibly referring to a sexual favor, the affidavit says. She told him no, so Glee “became angry, shoved her on the ground and began kicking her in the abdomen,” it says. Another woman witnessed the attack, the report says.
Court recordsThe court affidavit from the May 30 incident. We blurred out the victim’s name.
Glee told police he knew the woman “because he helps the homeless and has in the past bought her food and drinks,” the affidavit said. He claimed that she had offered to give him oral sex so he decided to buy two bottles of liquor. Glee stated that after he bought the liquor, the woman no longer wanted to give him oral sex. He stated he told the woman she owed him $60 for the liquor but denied kicking or hurting her, according to the court documents.
The officer observed her injuries and noticed swelling and abrasions under her right eye “possibly from scrubbing her face on the pavement.” She appeared heavily intoxicated and the officer felt that Glee appeared intoxicated as well.
In the earlier battery case, authorities received a call that “there was an argument at the bus stop on Governor’s Square Blvd. By South Magnolia Drive. The complainant said a female there told her to call the police.” When the officer arrived, three people were sitting on a bus bench. A man told police that a man had punched another man. Glee was located walking through the parking lot of the Crafty Crab restaurant and was identified by the clothes he was wearing. He was identified by the three witnesses who said that Glee “became enraged” at the male victim “over an argument regarding racial differences and then Glee punched (the victim) on his face,” that affidavit, dated May 28, 2020, said. Glee was issued a notice to appear. The officer observed that the victim’s left cheek had marks on it.
Lee also has a lengthy criminal history in Palm Beach County. In 2016, he was found guilty of trespassing, a misdemeanor. In that case, he was listed as unemployed. Police were dispatched to a burglary in progress in Riviera Beach. They found Glee sitting in a boat, the affidavit alleged. He said he got on the wrong boat but was unable to give information on what boat he was given permission to board, the court document said. A woman entered her fiancee’s boat to do her laundry and noticed the inside was in disarray and grew concerned that an unknown person was on board. You can read that court documenthere. He was accused of felony burglary of a vessel in that same case.
He was accused of felony grand theft – obtaining property for a worthless check – in 2015. That affidavit says that Glee was accused of presenting a fraudulent check for $448.23 at a Publix store. The check was drawn on a bank account of a franchise “Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt.” You can read that affidavit here.
In another case in 2015, authorities responded to a domestic call. They found shattered glass at the front of the building and observed a single brick and shattered glass on the living room floor. The owner of the home told police she saw Glee running from the home, the affidavit says. Glee’s girlfriend and another man were sitting in the living room when the brick was thrown through the glass window. They had dated four years but she broke up with him earlier in the day, according to the affidavit.
In 2012, he was accused of battery. Authorities wrote in the affidavit that a woman claimed she was struck by her sister’s husband, Glee.
Also in 2012, a police officer observed a man and woman in a Ford vehicle in an altercation. The vehicle was reported stolen out of Miami. The occupants were Glee and a woman. Authorities found a marijuana grinder and cocaine, the affidavit says. Glee alleged he was given the vehicle by another man. He said that he smokes weed and sells drugs on the side to supplement his income, it alleges. He said that the cocaine and crack found in the vehicle belonged to him and he only had it to sell, not for personal use, according to that affidavit.
He also has an old child support case, a case alleging fraudulent use of a credit card, a family court case, and a small claims action.
2. Both Women Vanished in June & Were Considered Missing Person Cases
Before her body was found, Tallahassee Police classified Salau as a “missing adult,” giving her name as Oluwatoyin “Toyin” Salau. A missing person poster released by police stated she was 19 years old, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighed 120 pounds and had black hair and brown eyes.
“The Tallahassee Police Department’s Special Victims Unit is seeking information on the location of Oluwatoyin ‘Toyin’ Salau,” the post said. “Salau was last seen on June 6, 2020, in the area of Orange Avenue and Wahnish Way in Tallahassee. She may be in the area of Jakes and Patterson Street. There is no known clothing description for Salau at this time.”
People with information are asked to call the Consolidated Dispatch Agency at 850-606-5800.
On social media, people expressed anger at the police for not doing more. “Toyin tweeted her location, the details of her abuser, she cried out for help, people tagged you in her posts and called you over and over again to report that she was in danger. YOU DID NOTHING. YOU ARE USELESS,” wrote one woman on the police Facebook page.
Sims had last been seen on June 11. She volunteered with the Tallahassee AARP chapter, the organization said in a press release. The police missing person poster for Sims stated that the Special Victims Unit was seeking information on her location. She was last seen in the area of the 2700 block of Blairstone Road. She was described as 5 feet tall and 115 pounds. “There is concern for Sims’s welfare,” that posted stated. It also gave her vehicle information.
The Tallahassee AARP said about Sims, “Vicki worked tirelessly to improve the lives of others – as a dedicated advocate for older Americans; a committed volunteer for AARP, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Big Bend and other community causes; a devoted mother and grandmother; and a passionate, fully engaged citizen, helping our nation to achieve its highest ideals.”
3. Salau Wrote a Series of Disturbing Tweets the Afternoon She Went Missing
Just hours before she disappeared on June 6, Salau wrote a series of disturbing tweets. “Anyways I was molested in Tallahassee, Florida by a black man this morning at 5:30 on Richview and Park Ave. The man offered to give me a ride to find someplace to sleep and recollect my belongings from a church I refuged to a couple days back to escape unjust living conditions,” she wrote.
She continued:
He came disguised as a man of God and ended up picking me up from nearby Saxon Street. I entered his truck only because I carry anything to defend myself not even a phone (which is currently at the church) and I have poor vision. I trusted the holy spirit to keep me safe. When we arrived at his house he offered me a shower and I thanked him and shower and he gave me a change of clothes. He exposed himself to me by peeing with the bathroom open obviously knowing I was out of it. I told him about a sexual assault situation that happened…
Salau described an alleged sexual assault by another man who she said, back in March, “tried to force me to give him oral sex and then continued to harrass (sic) me thru text and knocking at my door for days.” She wrote that she was 19 and that man was 32.
She continued:
Going back to the situation that happened to me this morning, I did not fall asleep. He then asked me if I wanted a massage at this moment his roommate who was in the house was asleep. I was laying on my stomach trying to calm myself down from severe ptsd. He started touching me back and rubbing my body using my body until he climaxed and then went to sleep. Before I realized what happened to me I looked over and his clothes were completely off. Once I saw he was asleep I escaped from the house and started walking from Richview Road to anywhere else. All of my belongings my phone my clothes shoes are all assumably at the church where I’ve been trying to track since I sought spiritual guidance/ refuge. I will not be silent. Literally wearing this man’s clothes right now DNA all over me because I couldn’t locate his house the moment I called the police because I couldn’t see.
She added: “Mid 40’s lives in a gray painted duplex apartment style house drives a white clean Silverado Chevrolet truck.”
“Silence is the best weapon for some but not for me I will not be silenced,” Salau wrote recently on her Twitter page, which she filled with comments about race and social justice. Salau’s disappearance sparked a great deal of emotion on social media, where many question why the media haven’t covered her case more widely and some criticized police for, in their view, not doing more considering the number of details Salau herself posted on Twitter about what she said was a sexual assault right before she vanished.
Salau was a speaker at Black Lives Matter protests after the death of George Floyd.
On June 14, a woman who goes by Ashley on Twitter and who indicated she was helping Salau’s mother wrote, “I’m sorry to inform everyone about this but Toyin is no longer with us.” On June 11, the same woman wrote on Twitter, “She’s been missing since last Friday since she left me and my friends. Last time she was last sighted was at the BL Perry Library on Saturday then after that we haven’t seen her. If you know any info please contact me because I’m helping her mom. She’s somewhere on the south side.” Heavy has also reached out to Ashley for more information.
Another woman claimed on a True Crime Group, “The family messaged in the group chat thanking everyone for their help and letting everyone know that she was no longer with us, and asking for people to give them time and not mention it on social media. Some friends who weren’t part of the search group started posting about it…there are no firm answers.”
4. Salau Wrote About Race, Police & Other Issues in Society on Social Media & Sims Was a Longtime AARP Volunteer Who Worked for the Elderly for the State of Florida
Salau filled her Twitter page with comments about race, police and other issues affecting society. “What do white people b tryna escape,” read one recent post.
“The media loves to censor black pain for a groundbreaking story there is no middle ground… keep reporting and fact checking stay on y’all toes,” read another. Other posts:
“Abeg stop using Black as an umbrella term African Americans are being targeted you people want to say Black but when its any other ethnicity you’ll list the whole al pha bet.”
“White suprecrazy.”
“In this dim ass social age Black could mean anything your fav white celebs get called black and for marrying African Americans will you shut up your mouth.”
“it’s so funny how white ppl use reverse psychology for every conflict and it’s not even that effective.”
Sims was a longtime volunteer for AARP. AARP Florida wrote:
AARP Florida deeply regrets the death of Vicki Sims, a long-time AARP volunteer. We understand that the Tallahassee Police Department is pursuing an investigation into her death. Few details are available at this time. Vicki is survived by two daughters, Brenda and June, and several grandchildren. She was a member of the Tallahassee Heights United Methodist Church. She retired several years ago from the Florida Department of Elder Affairs.
Vicki worked tirelessly to improve the lives of others – as a dedicated advocate for older Americans; a committed volunteer for AARP, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Big Bend and other community causes; a devoted mother and grandmother; and a passionate, fully engaged citizen, helping our nation to achieve its highest ideals. Her life is an example of the great principle laid out by AARP’s founder, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus — ‘to serve, not to be served.’
The AARP family of volunteers and staff has suffered a grievous loss.
5. Citizens Were Out Searching for Salau, Who Was a Speaker at Black Lives Matter Protests
TCAC — Tallahassee Community Action Committee — organized search parties for Salau. “We’re still at Bethel AME Church (On Orange Ave. and Wahnish Way) forming search teams, it’s not too late to join us!” the organization wrote with one post on its Facebook page.
Jesula Jeannot, a 21-year-old protest organizer who knew Salau through protests, told the Tallahassee Democrat, “I’m shaking.”
The newspaper reported that Salau “spoke at recent protests and carried signs pleading for justice in the wake of black lives lost.”