Ronnie Lee Williams was the leader of the “Miami Boys,” a drug-trafficking ring that ran from Miami to Pensacola.

One of his Pensacola employees, Bruce Frazier, had just broken up with his girlfriend and was afraid that she would inform police about the drug ring. Worried, Frazier and Michael McCormick, a street-level employee, moved a safe containing drugs and money from the apartment used by the drug ring to McCormick’s apartment.

Shortly after the safe was moved, Williams called Frazier from Miami and instructed him to get the money that McCormick owed him. Frazier went to McCormick’s apartment and was told by McCormick that both the money and the safe had been stolen.

On September 18, 1988, Williams ordered Timothy Robinson, Darrell Frazier (brother of Bruce Frazier), and Michael Coleman to go to Pensacola to recover money and drugs stolen from McCormick.

McCormick and Bruce Frazier met the three men from Miami at a hotel in Pensacola. The five men broke into his neighbor’s apartment looking for the missing goods.

Darlene Crenshaw, Amanda Merrill, Derek Hill and Morris Alfonso Douglas were all inside the apartment. Mildred Baker, McCormick’s girlfriend, was brought in soon after.

The men ordered Hill, Merrill, Douglas and Baker to undress and lie on the floor, where they were bound and gagged. The men began interrogating them about the whereabouts of the safe. When no one would answer his questions, Robinson began stabbing Derek Hill.

Darlene Crenshaw spoke up that she knew where the safe was and that McCormick was involved in the theft. McCormick was then stabbed several times.

Bruce and Darrell Frazier took Darlene Crenshaw to her apartment, where the safe, money and drugs were hidden. The Frazier brothers recovered the stolen goods and returned to Hill’s apartment, leaving Crenshaw alive.

Meanwhile at Hill’s apartment, Robinson and Coleman repeatedly raped Mildred Baker and Amanda Merrill. They also stabbed and slashed McCormick, Hill, and Douglas. When the Frazier brothers returned, Robinson and Coleman began to kill the prisoners.

Amanda Merrill survived after having her throat slit several times and being shot in the head. Douglas, Baker, Hill, and McCormick, were all pronounced dead at the scene.

Ronnie Lee Williams remained in Miami while the murders were carried out.

Florida Commission on Capital Cases