Witness statements and surveillance footage led to the arrest of a 52-year-old man who is accused of killing a woman and leaving her toddler alone in an apartment for at least 16 hours, according to Hillsborough County court records.

Thomas Sapp, 52, is being held without bond at the Falkenburg Road Jail on charges of first-degree murder, sexual battery and child neglect, jail records show. The state attorney’s office in the 13th Judicial Circuit, which covers Hillsborough County, filed a motion for pretrial detention Monday that details evidence collected by investigators in the death of Mekiyana Williams, 23.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the Tampa Police Department around 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 28. The Police Department said that a Tampa attorney had called a Tampa detective to report that his client had killed his girlfriend, according to the motion, and his client was concerned about a toddler who had been left alone for 16 to 17 hours.

Hillsborough County deputies went to The Avenue apartment complex, 9101 Avenue Club Drive, in the Temple Terrace area, for a welfare check based on information received from the lawyer, and found Williams dead in the home. According to the filing, Williams was found without any “obvious signs of injury or defensive wounds.” Deputies also found a 2-year-old toddler, unharmed, in a pack-and-play in the home, with a severely soiled diaper.

Detectives later spoke with Williams’ grandmother, who told authorities Williams was seeing an older man named “Tom” who drove a white Chrysler 300 sedan. Williams’ mother confirmed the information and said Sapp lived in the “Grant Park” area, according to the motion, and she told them Sapp had bought her daughter a white Dodge Charger.

Detectives returned to the apartment complex and got surveillance footage from Feb. 28. One camera showed a white Dodge Charger arriving at the apartment, and then a white Chrysler later arriving and leaving, the motion says. A different camera showed a woman with a child arriving at the apartment, and later a heavy-set man arriving at the apartment and then leaving.

Detectives later showed the footage to four witnesses, all of whom confirmed the Chrysler shown in the footage belonged to Sapp and identified the man in the video as Sapp. Williams’ mother also confirmed the Charger was her daughter’s car, and the woman in the video was Williams, records say.

Detectives spoke with Sapp’s son, who said his sister told him Sapp had killed a woman who had a small child, the motion says.

Detectives then met with Sapp’s daughter. In one interview, she told detectives that Sapp and Williams fought over the return of the car. In another interview, she said that on Feb. 28, her father told her he went to Williams’ apartment to take back the car. When Sapp arrived, he said the two argued about Williams having a sexual encounter with another person, according to the motion, and the two physically fought.

The motion says that Sapp’s daughter told detectives that “Thomas Sapp and Meka ‘went to the floor’ and he made a motion with his hands.” Sapp told his daughter it took several minutes for Williams to die.

Sapp stayed at the apartment for two hours because he was worried about leaving Williams’ son alone, he told his daughter. Sapp later called a lawyer who notified law enforcement that the child had been left alone in the apartment. Sapp told his daughter he would turn himself in, the motion stated.

A medical examiner later ruled Williams’ death a homicide caused by “asphyxiation,” the motion stated. The medical examiner also said Williams showed signs she was sexually battered either before her death or close to it.

Detectives interviewed a fifth witness, described as Sapp’s son’s uncle. The man told detectives that Sapp had said he went to Williams’ home and got into an argument about the car. Sapp told the man that Williams hit him more than “40 times.” Sapp said he put his hand around Williams’ nose and mouth until she stopped breathing, according to the motion, and he then rubbed alcohol on her face and fingers to try to “clean up.”

After deputies arrested Sapp on Sunday, he confessed to killing Williams, the motion states.

A pretrial motion for detention hearing will be held at the Hillsborough County courthouse at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, court records show.