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The last verifiable interaction with Chris George was at approximately 6PM on February 11, 2009.

Apopka Police came upon Jimmy Hataway, Tyler Watters and Brandon Losik in the area of Ocoee Apopka rd emerging from the woods, with Chris’s white Xterra in full view from the road.

Watters and Hataway were cuffed at the scene and questioned separately for 6 hours.< ?xml:namespace prefix ="" o />

Their stories did not match.

Tyler Watters Account (Abridged):

At about 1:30AM February 12, 2009, Chris drove into the woods off of < ?xml:namespace prefix ="" st1 />Ocoee Apopka Rd. He was high and the pair had been doing drugs earlier.

He ran out of the truck, yelling “If you wanna be a G you gotta roll like a G.” He said that Chris dropped his phone, his keys, the pair stopped for a second to look on the ground for it and then Chris kept running.

Tyler said he ran after Chris until the area got marshy, he stopped, turned around and started walking back to the truck.  He said he could not find the keys or Chris’s phone, so he called a friend to pick him up. The girls at Sun Resorts had passed out early, they slept through the whole thing until morning when they dropped him and Jimmy off at the “wrecked truck” to look for Chris.

Jimmy Hataways Account (Abridged):

Tyler called him and told him that Chris wigged out and ran into the woods leaving him stranded.  He said he borrowed one of the girl’s vehicles to go pick Tyler up and the girls dropped them off the next morning at the truck to look for Chris. The girls crashed early and slept through the whole thing. The next day they packed snacks, waters and headed out into the woods to look for Chris. Next thing he knew, cops were on the side of the road.

There are several versions of these, but you get the idea. What is astounding to me is that these two were well aware there was a guard shack at the entrance of the park, and a closed circuit camera trained on cars entering and exiting. I guess they figured out they had some time before Apopka PD would learn that.

They were right.

They would not be questioned again for months. In fact, not until after May 28, 2009.

The Truth

Focusing specifically on the events of February 11, 2009 and Chris George’s arrivals and exits from Sun Resorts

Chris arrives at Sun Resorts about 2:15PM, leaves about 2:30PM with Jimmy Hataway.

According to Hataway, Chris leaves him at a location of a person he did not know for about 3 hours. They are back at the park at 5:10PM.

The group hangs out together for about 30 minutes and Tyler Watters asks Chris if he would take him to his grandmother’s house for a change of clothes if he pays him $20 for gas. Chris’s truck pulls out of Sun Resorts at 5:40PM.

At approximately 10PM, Watters calls one of the female residents of Lot #269 announcing Chris left him stranded in the woods and he needed a ride. He said he had been walking a while, and would be on Keene Rd. Hataway and the girls picked him up a few minutes later on Keene.

Watters was wearing a white t-shirt and jeans without a smudge on him, not a burr or a scratch. It was not what he wore when he left and is presumed to be the “change of clothes” after showering at his grandmothers. His boots were not muddy and he was carrying the duffel bag he left with.

Rosemary Watters has been interviewed and stated that Tyler definitely was there and showered, however, she never saw Chris. She went on to say she was aware of the truck parked outside, but did not notice if someone was sitting in it.

After the foursome arrived back at Sun Resorts, Tyler made several calls discussing the incident with animated detail. Although he had his own phone, he was using one of the female witnesses, which again, LE was not aware of until months later.  

Within 15 minutes, Hataway and Watters requested the girls take them back out to the scene to look for Chris.

At this point, both the pickup of Watters and the drop off of both he and Hataway, occurred on Keene Rd.  At no time during either, was the White Xterra visible to anyone from the road and had been described as “deep in the woods” by Watters.

At approximately 11:30PM the truck was spotted pulling into the space at Lot 269 at Sun Resorts where it would remain until the next morning. 

The female witnesses, who had been visiting a relative of one of the women within the park; noticed upon their return to Lot #269 Chris George’s white Xterra was parked outside. Both heaved a sigh of relief.

As they bounded in the door to participate in the “crisis averted” celebration they expected to be walking into, they quickly learned that was not the case.

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