ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Court records show an Orange County judge ordered the Sheriff’s Office to transfer inmate Tim Long to a mental health facility in July.
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Less than a month later, Orange County inmate Hiram Fordoms confessed to “hurting” his cellmate, Tim Long, the day of the murder.
Long was found with a bedsheet around his neck August 14.
Channel 9 obtained court documents showing a judge ordered the Sheriff’s Office to transfer Long to a mental health facility a month prior.
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Channel 9 has been asking for more information on the death investigation since the day of the murder.
A jail spokesperson told us at the time, the victim was found unresponsive in his cell.
The jail would not state what the death was being investigated as.
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It wasn’t until late Friday that Channel 9 confirmed with the Sheriff’s Office, not the jail, that Long’s death was being investigated as a homicide.
The arrest affidavit obtained Monday sheds even more light about what happened inside the jail on the morning of August 14.
Hiram Fordoms was in jail for his at least 16th petty theft charge when he was accused of murdering his cellmate.
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According to Fordoms’ arrest affidavit, Fordoms and his cellmate, Tim Long, were placed in the same cell between 2 and 3 a.m. on August 14.
At 4 a.m., corrections officers saw Fordoms and Long “possibly arguing over toilet paper.”
30 minutes later, officers passed by the cell to find Fordoms asleep on a bunk and Long laying on the floor covered by a mattress.
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The affidavit said “Tim had what appeared to be bedsheet wrapped around his neck. His head leaning against the wall.” The report said he was nude from the waist down. It also states he had “visible signs of trauma to his face.”
The affidavit says Fordoms “spontaneously uttered” that he had “hurt Tim” the day of Long’s death.
Long had been in the jail since October 2022 for aggravated stalking.
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However, Channel 9 obtained court documents showing an Orange County judge ruled Long was incompetent to proceed with prosecution and ordered the Sheriff’s Office “transport and deliver the Defendant to a treatment facility,” in an order signed July 19.
Long was still in the jail nearly a month later on August 14 when he was murdered.
The Medical Examiner’s office determined Long’s cause of death was “beating with ligature strangulation.” The affidavit says Long suffered severe rib fractures, facial injuries, and trauma to his neck.
The homicide investigation raises several questions. Were corrections officers monitoring the cell at the time of Long’s death? Why did Orange County jail originally call in the death as an apparent suicide? What was the hold up with transferring Long to a mental health facility?
The jail said they would not comment because this is an active and ongoing investigation.
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