Arizona man found guilty of murder

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – A four-day murder trial ended Friday with an Arizona man found guilty of strangling his boyfriend in their hotel room during a 2021 trip to Panama City Beach.

Prosecutor Larry Basford announced that 43-year-old Scottie Jay Black of Arizona has been charged with second-degree murder in the October 3, 2021 death of 41-year-old Tyrell James Sagg.

We're told the case began on October 3, 2021, when Black and Sagg's girlfriend reportedly found him dead on the floor of their Panama City Beach hotel room. The three were apparently on vacation.

The autopsy reportedly revealed internal injuries consistent with strangulation. Further investigation revealed that the defendant and the woman later withdrew money using the victim's ATM card and returned to Arizona. Further evidence revealed that no one else entered or left the room at the time the victim was killed.

We were informed that prosecutors Peter Overstreet and Nadia DeAbreu had called twelve witnesses in the trial. They included a detective from the Navajo Nation Police Department who helped locate the suspect and two investigators from the Panama City Beach Police Department who flew to Arizona to interview Black.

A five-hour interview was reportedly played to the jury in which the defendant's story was changed several times.

“Mr. “Black thought he could have covered up his crime well,” Overstreet said. “However, the testimony of the medical examiner (Jay Radtke) and the extremely thorough investigation by detectives from the Panama City Beach Police Department led the jury to the truth about what happened in the hotel room that fateful night.”

They say the jury deliberated for about an hour and 45 minutes.

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