A 21-year-old woman in Florida has been arrested for allegedly murdering a 41-year-old man, beating him to death with a hammer and leaving a note on his body for authorities to discover.
Journee McGrew was arrested last week and charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of altering, concealing, or destroying physical evidence in the death of Waduta Woodley, court records show.
According to a probable cause affidavit, at 3:36 a.m. on July 2, deputies from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to the Cross Creek Apartments in the 1400 block of Manotak Avenue for reports of “a dispute.”
When first responders arrived at the address, they said they found the victim, later identified as Woodley, lying behind a stairwell in front of apartment 207 with “blunt force injuries to the head and face.” The scene was gruesome, and investigators believe it contained an unexpected clue: a note written by Woodley’s killer.
“Large pools of blood were under the victim and copious amounts of blood were observed on the walls and ground outside of apartment 207,” according to the complaint. “There was also a white sheet of paper lying on the victim’s chest that read, ‘PEDO Touches Children’ written with a green highlighter.”
Paramedics pronounced the victim dead on the scene, and McGrew, who lives in apartment 207, was detained and taken to police headquarters to be interviewed alongside her father and brother.
While carrying out a search warrant on McGrew’s apartment, detectives allegedly discovered bloody footprints leading from the front door to the bathroom. In the bathroom, investigators discovered a metal hammer with blood on the handle.
McGrew’s home also contained bloody clothes and shoes, as well as a “pink notebook with loose paper, and one green highlighter.”
McGrew’s father and brother said they went to her apartment after discovering she had been attempting to contact her mother by phone.
While driving to her house, the father said he spoke with McGrew, who informed him that Woodley had been at her house earlier that evening and “demanded that she have sex with him.”
“When she rejected him, he grabbed her, and she struck him with a hammer,” the affidavit says.When [McGrew’s father] asked if Woodley was hurt, she said, ‘I think he’s dead, Daddy.
[McGrew’s father] claimed he told McGrew to hang up the phone and dial 911. After hanging up, [McGrew’s father] dialed 911 and requested that police respond to McGrew’s home for a battery.”
McGrew claimed in a post-Miranda interview that Woodley had been “sexually grooming her since she was eight years old and sexually battered her multiple times.”
However, at around 10 p.m. the night before, police said McGrew messaged Woodley, saying she had been “fantasizing about him sexually and regretted ever treating him poorly.” She then invited him to her apartment “to spend time with him and have sex,” according to the affidavit.
Woodley arrived at her home, and the two went to “multiple nearby stores,” returning to McGrew’s around 1 a.m., according to police. Shortly after the two began drinking alcohol, McGrew claimed Woodley began to “pressure” her into having sex with him, and she asked him to leave. Before walking Woodley to the door, McGrew said she took a hammer from her closet and hid it behind her back.
Woodley allegedly wrapped McGrew in his arms at the door threshold in a manner she described as “not forceful, but aggressive.” The affidavit states that McGrew “pushed him away,” but the rest of the narrative is heavily redacted.
According to records, McGrew is currently being held without bond at the Duval County Jail. She is due to appear in court for her arraignment on July 24, 2025.
