Florida woman brutally beat man to death with a hammer — and left a note on his chest saying ‘PEDO Touches Children’

Journee McGrew says the man she brutally murdered with a metal hammer had groomed and molested her since the time she was in elementary school.

The 22-year-old woman is awaiting sentencing for beating 41-year-old Waduta Londrell Woodley to death on July 2, 2025, in Jacksonville, Florida.

‘I really wasn’t in my right mind when this happened. I’m not violent, and I’m sorry for this situation.’

McGrew said Woodley had sexually molested her for many years before she left him in a pool of blood in the breezeway of an apartment complex. Police said he had blunt force trauma to his head and face.

They also found a paper on his chest with a message that read, “PEDO Touches Children.”

McGrew said in court that her plan was to lure him into her apartment by falsely claiming to want sex in order to gather evidence against him. She said she did not plan to kill him.

“This was not supposed to happen. I really wasn’t in my right mind when this happened. I’m not violent, and I’m sorry for this situation,” she testified.

Police said they knocked on her door and she answered. They found bloody footprints as well as the bloody hammer.

Woodley’s mother testified at trial on his behalf.

“Everything changed in a second when your only son has been murdered,” she said in court. “Yes, this has affected my family, my daughter, my granddaughter. … We don’t know how to cope.”

McGrew also testified that she had been diagnosed with psychosis and post-traumatic stress disorder before the murder.

She initially pleaded not guilty to the two charges but changed her plea to guilty in Dec. 2025. She will be sentenced in August. The state has recommended life in prison.

“McGrew decided last year to be judge, jury, and executioner,” the state said. “She decided she was going to take the law into her own hands. She decided to be a vigilante, to be retaliatory and to impose a sentence.”

WJXT-TV reported that Woodley had no criminal history related to sexual assault or the abuse of children.

McGrew’s mugshot shows her smiling happily after she was arrested.

RELATED: Family of 10-year-old girl allegedly tortured to death says child protective services ignored dozens of warnings

McGrew was asked if she had any comments for her victim’s family.

“I am sorry about what I did,” she said. “I know how much I impacted your family and mine. I’m really sorry for what happened.”

No one appears to have submitted anything for Woodley’s obituary. The staff of the funeral home planted a tree in his memory.

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