A 33-year-old Bible-toting man wanted in the killing of his disabled Davie roommate two months ago was captured in southern California on Sunday after police recognized him from wanted posters.

Ricky Alan Sleight, whose story had appeared a day earlier on America’s Most Wanted, was spotted by patrol officers from the Oceanside Police Department near San Diego. Sleight did not resist arrest and is awaiting extradition to Broward County, Oceanside police said.

Davie police say Sleight killed William J. Baldi, 50, on Labor Day in the apartment they shared for about three months in the 2500 block of Southwest 81st Ave. After cutting Baldi’s throat, police said, Sleight set fire to the apartment to cover the crime and then fled in Baldi’s Nissan Pathfinder. He left a wallet containing his own driver’s license and Social Security card near Baldi’s body.

Davie police said a mutual friend had introduced Baldi and Sleight, who as a teen went to prison for raping an 89-year-old woman. He is listed as a sexual predator on law enforcement Web sites in Texas and North Carolina, his home state.

However, Sleight’s mother, Cynthia Richardson, has said he was wrongly convicted of the rape and is really “a good person.”

“Ricky would give his last penny to somebody who needed it,” Richardson said.

Baldi’s neighbors told police they heard loud noises coming from the apartment before the slaying but did not call police. They said Baldi had recently mentioned he wanted Sleight out of his home.

Sleight’s mother said Baldi, who lost an arm to cancer, had taken her son in while he tried to save money.

Just after the attack, Sleight called his mother in North Carolina, and told her that he’d awakened and found Baldi standing over him masturbating.

“I don’t call it murder,” Richardson said. “He killed someone, but he didn’t murder him. … I guess he just panicked.”

He told his mother he was not comfortable living with Baldi but didn’t mention hurting him. Days later, Sleight showed up at his mother’s home and confessed to the slaying, Richardson said.

Richardson said she called police, but her son fled, taking his ever-present Bible and $310 she’d given him.

Richardson said her son told her she would never see him again. But she later received calls at her home from Nebraska, Colorado and Seattle she thought were from her son. She spoke with him only once, just days after he fled North Carolina. He told her he was afraid but refused to answer her questions about the crime. Each time calls came in from other states she thought were from him, she told police of his possible whereabouts.

“I always believe in doing what’s right, and I’ve always taught my kids to do what’s right,” she said. “It was a hard decision.”

She added Sleight has a 4-year-old daughter and an infant son who do not live with him.

Davie police tracked Sleight to the West Coast and distributed information to police agencies that Sleight was frequenting homeless shelters. When he arrived in Oceanside, he apparently began staying at Brother Benno’s homeless shelter and attending church.

He had dyed his brown hair orange-blond and was wearing a black trench coat when arrested, police said.

Vicky Agnew can be reached at or 954-385-7922.