A Jacksonville woman has pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact in the murder of Nassau County Sheriff Deputy Josh Moyers. She will be sentenced pending a hearing after the first of the year.
According to court records, on Sept. 24, 2021, Deputy Moyers conducted a routine traffic stop. After speaking with the two occupants inside the van, Patrick McDowell, who officials say was driving the van, allegedly pulled a gun and shot Moyers twice. Moyers was transported to UF Health Downtown, but ultimately died from his injuries. Police apprehended McDowell Sept. 28, 2021 in Callahan.
In the search for McDowell, law enforcement officials monitored social media, where they say they found a new account from McDowell, which he allegedly used to message Breiana Tole.
“Accept the friend request I sent and call me and please don’t tell,” the message reads, as reported by the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office. “I need u more now than ive ever needed another living soul (sic). I don’t beg, but I will be honest with you, without your help, I’m either gonna die out here from the wounds or they will kill me.
Tole admitted to agreeing to meet McDowell at a ballpark in Callahan. When she arrived in the early hours of the morning, Tole found two patrol cars already parked there. She turned her car around and began to flee the scene. Law enforcement caught up to her and asked what she was doing there. Officers said she admitted on scene to being there for McDowell.
“I definitely came out here trying to help him,” officers said she told them. “I know he did something wrong.”
Officers said Tole gave them written consent to search her phone, where they allegedly found messages reading, “And this person got pulled over late last night early morning, and is now on the run on foot for shooting a cop…I was heading to where he shot the cop to try and find him before the cops do, but I imagined a chess game, and thought I needed to think that move all the way thru before deciding it’s the right move to make.”
Tole was going to go to trial, but entered a plea of guilty at the beginning of August of this year. She is currently being held at the Nassau County jail on a $1 million bail. The state attorney’s office had already begun to submit the names of witnesses to testify in the trial.
McDowell is also in custody and awaits trial.
hdorman@bnewsleader.com
