FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Opening statements began Monday in the murder trial of a Plantation man who is accused of killing one of his roommates and throwing his body in a dumpster.
The killing was reported around 5 p.m. on Oct. 5, 2017, in the 7000 block of Northwest 15th Street.
Plantation police said the suspect, Eric Robinson, then 46, lived at the home with another man and a woman.
Detectives believe that a relationship involving the woman and both men led to the killing.
Police said 39-year-old Nick Wilcox’s body was found in a garbage dumpster located behind a Publix at Nob Hill Road and Cleary Boulevard.
Robinson was arrested on a first-degree murder charge.
During Monday’s opening statements, Prosecutors accused Robinson of beating Wilcox to death and forcing his girlfriend, Isabella Tagliarini, to help him cover it up.
In October, before the murder, Robinson, who had just been released from custody on cocaine charges, went to Tagliarini’s home, only to find she was dating someone else, and saw some sort of love letter or contract on the wall.
Prosecutors said that’s what motivated Wilcox to turn back up on Oct. 5.
“Around two in the morning she was awoken by Eric Robinson being inside her bedroom, one hand on her mouth, telling her to be quiet and the sounds of Nicholas Wilcox gasping for breath,” Assistant State Attorney Peter Sapak said.
Defense attorneys laid out their case, pinning the blame on Tagliarini.
“I submit to you that Isabella Tagliarini is the one who murdered her boyfriend that night,” defense attorney Rachel Newman said.
Records show that Robinson was previously arrested in August 2016 at the same home after he allegedly beat his live-in girlfriend while wearing brass knuckles.