Truehill convicted in murder of FSU student in 2010

The killer of a Florida State University graduate student has been convicted by a St Johns County jury who took less than three hours last night to determine his guilt.

The murder of 29-year-old Vincent Binder, at the hands of 26-year-old Quentin Marcus Truehill, was so violent, that an expert testified during the trial that the blows to Binder’s head were made with enough force to create a hole in the victim’s skull.

“Truehill executed the victim in cold blood,” said Assistant State Attorney Mark Johnson.
“The victim was stabbed at least four times and hacked at least nine times in the back of the head and arms.”

According to Tallahassee police, 29-year-old Binder was last seen by Becky Frady, her husband, David, and Becca Edwards at about 12:30 a.m. on April 2nd. Binder was said to be walking to his house on South Lipona Road in Tallahassee from the condominium on Airport Drive where his friends live. Police believe Binder was kidnapped and robbed as he was walking home.

Within fifteen minutes of Binders kidnapping, surveillance video showed Truehill using Binder’s credit card at a convenience store. Truehill and two other Louisiana detention center escapees, Peter Marcus Hughes and Kentrell F. Johnson, made their way through St Johns County sometime between April 2, 2010, and when they were captured by U.S. Marshals at approximately 8:00 p.m., on Monday, April 12th at a Miami motel.

Law enforcement officers tracked Binder’s credit card which was used at ATM’s and gas stations in Tallahassee, Madison, Jacksonville, and along I-95 south to Miami. At about 8:00 a.m. on April 28, 2010, Binder’s mutilated body was found behind the Wingate by Wyndham hotel on SR-16 just west of I-95 in St Augustine.

Hughes, Johnson and Truehill, were all indicted on May 10, 2010 by the St. Johns County Grand Jury. Then, on June 4, 2010, State Attorney R. J. Larizza announced that the State intends to seek the death penalty against all defendants for first degree murder and kidnapping. Klare Ly, Public Information Officer for the Florida State Attorney of the 7th Judicial Circuit, informed Historic City News that the death penalty phase of the trial is scheduled to begin March 3rd at 9:00 a.m.