U.S. Marine Charged in Death of Former Reality TV Contestant Found in an Alabama Pond

Authorities say U.S. marine Willie Ellington has been charged with first-degree murder and possession of child pornography

A U.S. Marine in Alabama has been charged with murdering a former reality television contestant after meeting up with her at a local hotel while she was working as an escort.

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement this week that Willie Ellington, an active duty Marine based at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, has been charged with first-degree murder and possession of child pornography. 

The sheriff’s office alleges that Ellington, 20, killed Tshey Bennett, who was “working as an escort” and met up with the marine at the Sweet Dream Inn in Pensacola shortly before she disappeared. 

After investigators discovered Bennett’s body “in a pond located in an abandoned neighborhood” in Mobile, Ala., officers took Ellington into custody, according to the sheriff’s office. It was not immediately clear how Bennett had been killed.

Ellington remains in custody at the Lee County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama, according to records reviewed by PEOPLE.

Local station WKRG reported that officers tracked Ellington down while he was on a bus and arrested him in Opelika, Ala., about 230 miles north of Pensacola.

The murder is believed to have taken place in Northwest Florida, the outlet reported, citing police, meaning Bennett’s body is believed to have been dumped across state lines, roughly 50 miles from where the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office says she was last seen meeting Ellington.

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Bennett appeared as a contestant on the HollyHoodTV series “Skrippa Bootcamp” earlier this year, according to the New York Post. The reality series is centered on 12 exotic dancers living in a single house together.

Ellington is a private first class in the U.S. Marine Corps, Captain Jacoby Getty confirmed to the Pensacola News Journal. The newspaper reported that Ellington was among a Marine group training in aviation, technology, explosive ordinance disposal and combat diving.