A Monroe County jury convicted 35-year-old Key Largo kayak guide Dylan Cody Lamb on Friday of second-degree murder, false imprisonment, and evidence tampering in the beating death of 43-year-old Nadyne Marie Tillman, whose body was found stuffed in a resort closet last year. Jurors reached their verdict after deliberating for less than two hours following a five-day trial before Monroe County Circuit Judge James Morgan.
Lamb and Tillman met on April 5, 2025 at the Amoray Dive Resort, after Lamb contacted her through a website advertising escort services and paid her $200 in exchange for sexual services, according to the Miami Herald. Tillman texted a friend that she was at the door of the room where she was supposed to meet her date, writing “I'm in” — the last contact her friend said he had with her. Detective J. Hernandez wrote that Lamb appeared to have hit Tillman multiple times, and Lamb later admitted he struck her once in the face before she fell, hit her head, and became unconscious, according to the arrest report cited by the Herald.
The medical examiner determined Tillman died from blunt-force trauma to the head and neck, with fractures to her cervical vertebrae. Her body, found lying in a fetal position, had two black eyes, swollen and lacerated lips, and other facial trauma, and she was nude from the waist down except for a red shirt covering her chest to her midsection, per the Herald's reporting on the case file.
Confession Came After Credit Card Discovery
Lamb checked out of Room W1A on April 6, 2025, the day after the killing, and the resort re-rented the room to new guests who unknowingly spent the night there while Tillman's body remained hidden beneath an air-conditioning unit in the closet, according to Law & Crime. Tillman's family reported her missing two days before Lamb's arrest, and her daughter said she had last spoken with her mother four days earlier. Tillman's daughter and her daughter's boyfriend also told investigators that Tillman's Chevy SUV had been parked at the resort for two or three days, and the vehicle was later found near mile marker 104 of the Overseas Highway.
The Amoray Dive Resort's general manager reported suspicious behavior by Lamb to detectives on April 7, 2025, after Lamb refused to open the door when the manager knocked on his room and blocked the door when Tillman tried to leave, per Hernandez's report as detailed by the Herald. Housekeepers found three large trash bags filled with bloody towels and linens outside the room; an arrest affidavit reported by Fox News stated the linens were heavily stained with substances consistent with blood, urine, and feces. A garbage truck hauled away the resort dumpster's contents before detectives could examine the bags.
Arrest, Confession and a Parole Meeting
Monroe County Sheriff's Office detectives arrested Lamb at Florida Bay Outfitters, located less than a mile from the resort, on April 8, 2025. Detective J. Hernandez identified tattoos on the recovered body that matched tattoos in Tillman's Facebook profile picture, helping confirm her identity after detectives found her body in the closet at Room W1A. Investigators found Tillman's credit card concealed inside Lamb's wallet at the time of arrest, and Lamb subsequently gave detectives a sworn handwritten statement admitting his involvement, according to Keys Weekly. Lamb told investigators he panicked, cleaned the scene, and concealed Tillman's body in the closet.
At the time of the killing, Lamb was serving two years of probation for a 2024 grand theft auto charge, to which he had pleaded no contest. In the days between the April 5 killing and his April 8 arrest, Lamb met directly with his probation officer while Tillman's body remained hidden in the resort closet, Law & Crime reported. Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said deputies worked around the clock on what began as a missing-person investigation to locate Tillman, and confirmed early in the probe that no other suspects were involved.
Prosecutors, Defense React to Verdict
Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne said the prosecution presented the evidence and gave the jury the complete picture of what happened, according to the Herald. Prosecutor Joseph Mansfield thanked the jurors for their service. Lamb was represented at trial by an attorney from the Monroe County Public Defender's Office. The Monroe County State Attorney's Office noted that the jury's deliberation lasted less than two hours.
Under Florida Statute § 782.04(2), second-degree murder is a first-degree felony punishable by up to life imprisonment, and Florida's Criminal Punishment Code requires a mandatory minimum sentence of 16.75 years absent downward departure grounds, according to the Richard Hornsby Law Firm. Unlike first-degree murder, the second-degree charge does not carry the death penalty or mandatory life without parole. The evidence tampering charge, covered under Florida Statute § 918.13, is a third-degree felony carrying up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, per the Fighter Law firm's explainer on the statute. Lamb faces up to life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on October 9, 2026.
A Longtime Keys Resident
Tillman had lived in the Florida Keys for 27 years, having moved to the area at age 16 in 1998, according to her obituary published by Allen Beyer Funeral Home. She raised her children in the Upper Keys community and spent time with her grandson there. Regional reporting from WPLG Local 10 has noted that the conviction lands amid a string of other recent violent crime and public safety investigations tied to Key Largo, including a commercial property drug bust and separate guest-safety cases at Upper Keys lodging facilities.
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