Bail Denied for 2 Held in Miami Tourist’s Death

MIAMI — Two suspects charged with targeting a German tourist for a fatal “bump-and-rob” highway crime were denied bail when they appeared in court Saturday.

Patsy Jones, 20, and Alvin Hudson, 19, were arrested Friday for a killing that has ignited an international furor over tourist safety on Miami’s highways.

Dade County Judge Joseph Farina ordered both suspects held without bail until their trial. They were not required to enter a formal plea in response to the charges during their court appearance Saturday.

The two face first-degree murder and armed robbery counts along with a third suspect, Ricondall Wiggins, who was arrested earlier in the week.

All three have confessed to tailing Uwe-Wilhelm Rakebrand, 30, as he and his pregnant wife left the Miami airport Wednesday in a rental car.

The three had cruised the airport in a yellow truck seeking a victim and followed Rakebrand onto a highway. There, they rammed the car in an attempt to get the driver to stop so they could rob him, police have said.

Jones reportedly told police that when Rakebrand kept driving, she fired a single shot from a sawed-off .30-caliber rifle. Rakebrand died instantly.

In her court appearance Saturday, Jones stared calmly ahead and answered “No, sir,” when Judge Farina asked if she could afford her own lawyer. Farina appointed a public defender for her and another for Hudson, who also said he did not have money to pay for a private attorney.

Hudson, who lived in the same area as Jones and Wiggins, looked down at his feet and nervously shoved his hands in his pockets during his separate court appearance.

If convicted of first-degree murder, the three suspects could face death in Florida’s electric chair.

Police said Wiggins and Jones also are suspected of using the same tactics in several other “bump-and-rob” crimes.