Police: Tenants killed landlord, lived with body for two weeks

CLEARWATER (FOX 13) - Clearwater police arrested two people Monday night after they found a 69-year-old woman shot dead inside a home.

The body of Mary Ring was found Monday morning at a home on Engman Street when police were called to the home for a welfare check. However, Ring had been dead long before the discovery.

Police arrested her tenants who lived in the house with Ring, Lawrence Edward Cannon, 42, and Jennifer Elam, 44.

Cannon told detectives he shot Ring in the back of the head while she was laying in her bed during the early morning hours after the Super Bowl.

Officers believe Ring had been dead for about two weeks by the time they found her.

During those two weeks, police say Elam and Cannon continued to live in the house with Ring's dead body.

According to police, the couple was trying to figure out how to dispose of the body. The arrest affidavit says Cannon even scouted locations to dump Ring's corpse.

Investigators are still working to find out what the motive could have been for Ring's death.

Police said Cannon is charged with murder and Elam is charged with accessory after the fact.

FOX 13's Dan Matics will have more on this story throughout the day.