Man charged in Halloween murder in court

TAMPA (FOX 13) - The man charged with murdering the mother of his twin daughters on Halloween right in front of the children made his first court appearance Wednesday.

Hillsborough County deputies charged Darryl Williams, 49, with the first degree murder of Tiffany James. He was arrested Tuesday night his job at Mosaic Industries. Williams is being held in jail without bond following his court appearance.

"We're doing better today than when it first happened and now that we know that he's put away, we're doing much, much better today," said Vickie Pittman, James' aunt, adding she has been praying for an arrest. "We just pray and pray and pray, so we're hanging on through the prayers. And God gave us justice."

Detectives said Williams gunned down James, 35, as she and their twin 7-year-old girls returned from trick-or-treating.

Investigators immediately wanted to question Williams, but it took until this week for them to feel like they had enough evidence to make an arrest.

Pittman said dealing with the uncertainty has been difficult.

"It's a healing process for us, day by day," she said, adding the the holidays are going to be even harder; James was a mother of four. "This is our first holiday without her. I don't know how the kids are going to feel, given that it's Thanksgiving and their mom is not going to be with us."

She said her loved ones have been supportive, constantly offering help.

"They just call and asking what we need and what we want," Pittman told FOX 13. "It's just hard to tell somebody what you need when it's a tragedy and it's a death that was never supposed to happen."

Several of Williams' neighbors were stunned to hear about the arrest. His next door neighbor told FOX 13 Williams had just moved out last week, but didn't know where was going.