Man says he killed woman in ‘the spur of the moment’

A welfare check led to an arrest Sunday after police discovered a woman’s body lying on the floor of a bedroom with a bullet wound to her chest, according to Boca Raton police.

The victim’s mother called police and said she was concerned about “strange” text messages she received from her daughter’s phone number, police said.

On 7 p.m. Saturday, police went to Egbert Durity’s home in the 200 Glouchester Street, where the victim went to pick up her child but never returned to her home in Okeechobee, police said.

Durity, 33, told the officers the victim stayed the night at his home but left at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in a Kia Soul, according to a probable cause affidavit. He told officers he was worried about where the victim was and had reported her missing to Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office at 2 p.m., but police found no record of Durity reporting her missing, the affidavit says.

Police asked Durity to enter the home to search for the victim when he became hostile and refused to let them in, according to the affidavit, and appeared to be more worried about them coming inside than finding where the victim was.

Shortly after 9:30 p.m., police found the victim’s car parked “haphazardly” at the east end of Glouchester Street unlocked with her keys and purse still sitting on the front passenger seat, the affidavit says.

Officers then searched Durity’s home and found the victim’s body lying on the bedroom floor with a gunshot wound to her chest, partly hidden under the bed. She was pronounced dead at 10 p.m., the affidavit says, and Durity was arrested at the scene.

Durity told police he and the victim were arguing about custody of their child when he pulled a Glock 19 9mm pistol from the nightstand drawer next to his bed and shot her once early that morning, the affidavit says, saying he did it “in the spur of the moment.”

He then admitted to moving the victim’s car to the parking lot at the end of the street and sending text messages from her phone to several people “in an attempt to buy himself time,” the affidavit says.

When officers searched further, they found a Glock 19 9mm pistol sitting on the bed and one spent shell casing, according to the affidavit.

Durity is held at the Palm Beach County Main Detention Center without bond and faces one count of second-degree murder with a firearm.