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'I Wanted To Feel What It Was Like To Take Someone's Life': Transient Admits To Slicing Woman's Throat
"It was all premeditated. I knew what I was doing," he said.
Patricia King was known around her community of Largo, Florida, for helping those in need.
Her mother, Loretta King, told Oxygen's "Criminal Confessions," "She was always very nice and understanding to people that were down on their luck. ... If somebody needed a place to stay or food, she would welcome them into her house. Fed them, got a good night sleep, and, you know, out the next day."
Still, Loretta worried about how trusting her daughter was of strangers.
"We would always tell her to be careful and don't invite strangers into the house. ... Not everybody is good, you don't know," said Loretta. "She always said, 'There's goodness in everybody.'"
On February 6, 2016, Loretta's worst fear came true when 50-year-old Patricia was stabbed to death by local transient William S. Coffin III, whom Patricia had invited into her home earlier that day. Police were able to track down Coffin after finding a pair of his fingerprints on a glass he had dropped in Patricia's backyard while fleeing the scene.
[Photo: "Criminal Confessions" Screengrab]
Investigators then arrested Coffin, 32, and brought him down the station, where he ultimately confessed to murdering Patricia.
He told Largo Police Detective Jill Freire, "I went to Patricia's house. We were outside and we're sitting in her chair, and I remember somehow there was a knife. I remembering thinking that I was gonna kill her. ... Almost like it was a fantasy or something."
Later that evening, Coffin went to the hotel where he was temporarily staying, but he eventually returned to Patricia's residence.
"I went inside, and she was sleeping on her bed. I remember reaching down and just making a slice across her throat, and she started bleeding. ... It was all premeditated. I knew what I was doing," said Coffin.
[Photo: "Criminal Confessions" Screengrab]
He explained to Detective Freire, "I just had this quest where I just wanted to feel what it was like to take somebody's life."
In 2015, Coffin pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
To hear more about how investigators caught Coffin, watch "Criminal Confessions" on Oxygen.
[Photo: "Criminal Confessions" Screengrab]
