'I snapped,' says killer accused of slaying child-rapist cellmate

Sheddrick Bentley

A man already serving time in prison for murder has been charged with the crime again after killing his cellmate, a rapist, for inappropriately touching him, officials said.

Sheddrick Bentley was scheduled Tuesday to be arraigned in Volusia County on Aug. 4 on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of Hans Christian Anderson, court records show.

Anderson, 58, died of ligature strangulation — a sock was found around his neck — and blunt force injury to his abdomen Feb. 17 at Tomoka Correctional Institution near Daytona Beach, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement charging affidavit.

Prison officials confirmed Feb. 18 that Anderson, serving a 25-year sentence for raping a 13-year-old girl, had been killed by another inmate, but they wouldn't release the suspect's name or details of the death.

Bentley asked corrections officers to put him in handcuffs Feb. 17, and when the officers asked why, the 38-year-old said, "I did it, he made me do it," according to the affidavit filed July 12. Officers found Anderson lying face down on the floor of the cell he shared with Bentley.


Bentley told investigators that Anderson was trying to "mess" with him, according to the affidavit.
"Did he physically touch you or was he talking to you to see if you wanted to?" Bentley was asked, according to the affidavit.
Investigators said Bentley then shouted that Anderson had grabbed Bentley's genitals while Bentley was sleeping.

"He never done that (expletive) before. I snapped," Bentley told investigators. He also said he was unaware of why Anderson was incarcerated.
Anderson brutally beat and raped a teen in 1998 in the basement of a church in Pinellas County, according to records.
Bentley is serving time in prison for second-degree murder, burglary of an occupied dwelling, grand theft auto and false information to a pawnbroker, records show. The crimes were committed in Collier County.