By Courtnee Rattigan
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“I can’t do it anymore” were among the last words James Clayton said to his former girlfriend of 10 years and close friend, Delphine Milliken. Their conversation occurred at approximately 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 27. By noon, Clayton and another ex-girlfriend, Valencia student Loyta Sloley, were found dead in the Marriott Courtyard Hotel downtown.

The conversation between Milliken and Clayton is only a piece of information from the
supplemental police report filed on Feb. 28. The report also details a previous threat, the suspect’s criminal past, as well as the twisted love triangle that possibly led to the murder-suicide.

According to Lance Sloley, the victim’s younger brother, an event happened the weekend before the incident that struck him as odd. While intoxicated, Clayton told Herbert Sloley, the victim’s father, that he was going to kill the entire Sloley family. Lance Sloley, in turn, packed his things and temporarily moved out of the family apartment and in with a friend.

In Milliken’s sworn police statement, she shares that Clayton called her Jan. 24 to tell her that he felt that something was “going on” between the victim and his close friend and coworker, Harold Bailey. According to Milliken, Clayton had found Loyta Sloley’s car outside of Bailey’s residence the day before. Milliken also states that Clayton had suspected the secret relationship, but this was the first time he’d seen evidence of it.

According to Bailey’s statement to the police, Loyta Sloley had recently told him that her relationship with Clayton was over. She said that Clayton still lived with the family and would only continue to do so until he could get on with his life. Bailey also stated that Clayton knew about his relationship with Loyta Sloley. Bailey testified to having had seen injuries on Loyta Sloley that had been caused by Clayton, although he never witnessed the abuse firsthand.

Bailey, as well as Lance Sloley, urged Loyta Sloley to call the police, but she refused saying that she didn’t want to get him in trouble. Milliken and Clayton shared a few more conversations over the next few days with the last coming a few hours before the murder-suicide.

In this conversation, Clayton supposedly gave his bank information, pin number, and other information to Milliken. She claims he wanted her to have his belongings “in case something happened.” Clayton and Loyta Sloley dropped off her 11-year-old son, A.J., at Blankner Elementary School on the morning of Jan. 27. In an audiotaped interview with A.J., he recalled the morning as “suspicious” because his mother and Clayton seemed to be calm and getting along, which wasn’t usually the case. A.J. also said that it wasn’t usual for Clayton to be there when his mother dropped him off at school.

The police were called at 8:12 by Loyta Sloley’s supervisor, Sheryl Blake-Robinson, with the belief that Sloley was being held against her will by Clayton. The police called Loyta Sloley and asked her a series of yes and no questions to which she confirmed that she was under duress. Sloley didn’t say where she was and the police obtained a tape record of Sloley’s phone.

After 16 minutes, an officer was dispatched to Blankner Elementary after having gotten a call from an unknown child. Detective Chris Haas was contacted at noon by Detective Pat Schneider to be made known that Sloley and Clayton were found dead in their rented hotel room at the Marriott. The 16 minutes between the call and dispatch of an officer led to an investigation into the dispatcher, however, since both the suspect and victim are dead, the case has been closed.