FORT MYERS, Fla. — Former University of Florida football player Earl “Tony” Joiner was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of a Fort Myers mother in 2016.
According to the State Attorney’s Office, Joiner was sentenced for one count of second-degree murder with a firearm. He pleaded no contest as charged and was adjudicated guilty.
Joiner was ordered to have no contact with the victim’s family.
The alleged killer played football for the University of Florida from 2004 to 2007.
Joiner was arrested on June 8, 2019, in connection to the murder of Heyzel Obando.
Joiner’s arrest came as the Oxygen network’s true crime TV series, Cold Justice, was in town back in 2019 investigating the case with local law enforcement. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the Lake Wales Police Department, and the State Attorney’s Office also aided Fort Myers Police in the investigation.
Obando was found dead in her Crestwood Avenue apartment on Valentine’s Day 2016 in Fort Myers at the age of 26. According to the affidavit, she had been shot in the head, with one bullet entering her temple and severing her spinal cord. Joiner called 911 to report that he had discovered the victim bleeding and
unresponsive.
Early on in the case, an investigation by the Fort Myers Police Department did not find enough evidence to make an arrest. Joiner’s phone records became a key source of evidence that led to his eventual arrest.
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