Taco Bell Murder Suspect Offers Not Guilty Plea, Hand Gesture

Karari Ritchie, the 20-year-old man who was charged in the gruesome murder of a Taco Bell manager who was found dead inside the Oakland Park restaurant by co-workers, was in court today and plead not guilty to the charges, despite the fact that detectives said he had earlier confessed to the crime.

Detectives also claimed he showed no remorse, and demonstrated some of that remorse lacking by offering up a parting gesture to an NBC6 cameraman as he left the courtroom.

Ritchie is being held in a Broward County jail, accused of murdering 39-year-old Tikkitress Johnson during an early morning robbery on Monday, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Ritchie was arrested yesterday at his family's home in Lauderhill.

Ritchie told authorities he had to kill Johnson because she would be able to identify him. Ritchie once worked at a local Taco Bell. Johnson was a 20-year employee of Taco Bell and mother of three. She supervised Ritchie at the Oakland Park restaurant for about a year, BSO Sheriff Al Lamberti said.

Johnson died from multiple stab wounds.

Police had been looking for two men who they say may have been posing as prospective employees to get into the restaurant. The other suspect is still at large.

Ritchie's family was hoping Ritchie's arrest was just a misunderstanding.

"I just don't believe that he would do such a crime," Ritchie's brother, Damian Maylor, told the Sun-Sentinel. "I just want it to be cleared up, and get the facts straight."

Ritchie told detectives that he planned to rob and kill Johnson from the outset and that it was not a robbery gone wrong. A Broward judge ordered him held in jail without bond on first-degree murder charges.

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