Former St. Augustine standout football player found guilty in 2020 of double murder during drug deal

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A former standout football player at St. Augustine High School was found Thursday guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in a 2020 double shooting that killed a 16-year-old schoolmate and her 21-year-old boyfriend.

Anfernee Wilson, who was 19 when first charged, initially pleaded guilty to the deaths of 16-year-old Sydnie Rounsville and her boyfriend, 21-year-old Kyle Stein. They were fatally shot in a condominium parking lot in October 2020.

Wilson requested an amendment to his pleading last October, a request that was granted in April, and this week started a double murder trial in which Wilson’s attorneys argued he shot the truck because he feared for his life.

Immediately following Thursday’s guilty verdict, Wilson was expected to receive a life sentence without parole.

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The jury heard from Wilson when he testified Wednesday, but they will never know what Rounsville and Stein think of the story.

“Whatever mistakes you think you made, you paid for it with your life,” a prosecutor said Thursday during her closing arguments.

It was a drug deal that turned tragic.

The prosecutor said the case was about accountability and that Wilson knew what he was doing.

“Their lives weren’t worth $650 because he wanted the money back, he took their lives,” the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor’s closing argument repeated that Wilson arranged for the purchase of a quarter pound of cannabis. In a message to Wilson from Rounsville, she said, “I really trust you.”

When Wilson gave Stein the money for the drugs, something happened that sparked an argument. Wilson said the quality of the drug was poor and he asked for his money back. Witnesses said they saw Wilson chasing the truck with a gun before the truck crashed. Then, witnesses said, Wilson approached the young couple, shot them dead, grabbed the money and the weed, and ran away.

The defense let the jury focus on why Wilson shot her.

““He only opened fire because the truck was heading straight for him at high speed and he was acting in self-defense,” the defense attorney said.

Wilson fled the scene, leaving a trail of evidence that led officers to his whereabouts. Money, his clothes, his shoe and a phone were found on his escape route. Wilson was found less than an hour after the shooting in a detention pond about a mile away near Scheidel Way and North St. Johns Street, officials said.

He was spotted on camera behind a warehouse minutes after the shooting.

Wilson’s attorney argued the state presented evidence but no evidence of what led to the shooting.

The state said Wilson’s own admission on the witness stand that he fired four shots into the truck was sufficient.

“‘Because I just committed a crime.’ Of all that he said no truer words could be found. Self-defense is not a crime. “But shooting someone intentionally is a crime,” the prosecutor said.

Shalene Rounsville said Wilson and her daughter knew each other from school.

“It has not escaped my notice that three young adults have lost their lives. Not just Kyle and Sydnie, but him too. That didn’t escape my notice,” Rounsville said.

Shalene said it wasn’t fair that she never got to see her daughter graduate and that Sydnie would never marry or have children. She said Sydnie’s brother had recently had a child and Sydnie would have liked to be an aunt.

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Shalene said she left some of her daughter’s ashes on Kyle’s grave. She wants to distribute the rest in the mountains and on the beach – two of Sydnie’s favorite places.

She said she will do so now that the trial is over.