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Panama City, Fla:
A successful graduate of the Panama City Rescue Mission’s Recovery program is found murdered, and police say his alleged killer is a man he was mentoring in the same program.
Panama City Police say that the motive was robbery and Rev. Billy Fox with the Rescue Mission believes the suspects were looking for money for drugs.
The victim, Phillip Cotton, had been with the Panama City Rescue Mission for more than two years.
“He wanted to give back as much as he could and he literally gave his life for it,” Rev. Fox says.
Cotton was discovered dead in his rented apartment behind the Salvation Army of 15th Street in Panama City at around 8:30 Monday morning after he didn’t show up for work.
“Philip was kind of the house mother of the group,” Fox says of his living situation. “He watched over the flock there and kind of kept them in line.”
The apartments are a part of the Mission’s Crossroads Program, for alcohol and drug addiction recovery, where Cotton also served as a mentor.
“He had people that were struggling in their recovery and he was secure in his,” says Cotton’s former roommate Bob Gerlach. “He was a good mentor and I will miss him.”
Rev. Fox says the main suspect, 30-year-old Timothy Christopher Hance, was also a part of the program and lived in the same apartment community until he disappeared Friday.
”He had left the program abruptly and went out on a binge,” Fox says, “That’s what drove him back to try to continue his substance abuse.”
The Panama City Police Department says Hance told investigators he and anther man, 47-year-old Dino Soukeras, had been partying Sunday night. When they ran out of money, they robbed two Goodwill stores, one in Panama City and one in Panama City Beach.
Police say after that, Soukeras went to bed but Hance believed Cotton had money and confronted him, confessing to police that he stabbed Cotton multiple times.
Rev. Fox says Cotton was the manager for several of the Mission’s thrift stores, and may have taken money home with him if he left the store late at night. “He may have got back late and had the money there and that became known to them.”
The two suspects were taken into custody only hours after Cotton’s body was found.
Panama City Police charged Hance with murder, burglary and attempted armed robbery.
Soukeras, who Rev. Fox says is not associated with the Mission, is charged with burglary.
Cotton’s former roommate Bob Gerlach says the news was a shock and that the Mission will miss him.
“He was a heck of a nice guy real easy going, laid back, nothing bothered him,” Gerlach recalls.
“He was a great employee, a great friend, a great brother,” says Rev. Fox.
The Rescue Mission says Cotton was alone when he came to the Mission, and they are currently searching through any records they can find to locate possible relatives.
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So what you are saying is, when I donate my goods and money to the Salvation Army on 15th street, my money is going to help drug addicts to purchase more drugs and not have to pay huge living bills as we all have to do? Time to switch charites.