A 50-year-old man with a lengthy criminal history has been indicted on a first-degree murder charge in the 2006 slaying of a hotel security guard in Clearwater.

A grand jury returned the indictment Friday charging Kenneth Robert Missey in the slaying of William "Bill" Williams. Williams, 64, was working as a security guard at the Fairfield Inn & Suites on Sept. 22, 2006, when he was shot and killed during an armed robbery.

That's when the suspect, later identified as Missey, entered the lobby of the hotel located at 3070 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. armed with a handgun. He was wearing all black clothing and what was described as an older-style hockey mask.  

According to police, Missey pointed the gun at the front desk clerk and ordered her to give him all of the money. Williams, after hearing the commotion in the lobby and running to the clerk's aid, was shot and killed by Missey.

Missey, who has been arrested 16 times in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties alone, tried to convince detectives in subsequent years that another man was the killer.

Police said he reached out to detectives and Crime Stoppers with information about the slaying. He even arranged to send Crime Stoppers a package in the mail that contained three live rounds from the murder weapon - the weapon he said the other man had used in the crime.

Missey later arranged to give the gun to detectives, hoping it would lead to a prosecution against the other man. Detectives were able to determine it was the same weapon used in the robbery.

Detectives also were able to determine that the man Missey implicated in the slaying was behind bars at the time and could not have committed the crime.

"Robert Missey is a career criminal who thought he could direct our investigative efforts elsewhere," said Police Chief Dan Slaughter. "He's been duping people all of his life. Thankfully, we were able to put together a case against the real killer, and that's Missey himself."

Missey currently is being held in Gulf Correctional Institution in the Florida Panhandle. He has been there since April 2012 on charges out of Hillsborough County.

The indictment is the seventh cold case solved by Clearwater Police homicide detectives in the last two years.

"These older homicide cases don't sit on a shelf gathering dust," Slaughter said. "They get a fresh set of eyes from our detectives constantly. They interview witnesses, find new leads and tirelessly seek justice for the victim's family. Sometimes, that justice takes time."