EYE FOR AN EYE

By Barney Smith

Orange County, Florida, has experienced a significant rise in the higher levels of ‘Crimes Against Persons,’ specifically, ‘Murders.’ This placed more investigative responsibility on the Orange County Sheriff’s Office [OCSO] Homicide Unit, specifically, Sgt. Jake Jacoby and Detective Ed Rollins, one of five Homicide Teams at the OCSO.
Early, on a Wednesday morning, the Homicide Unit was notified, by their communications Center, that an unconscious male was found lying in an orange grove.
An ambulance was dispatched to the scene, as well as the zone deputy. The deputy was dispatched to do an initial investigation.
The ambulance arrived at the scene and declared the adult male, to be deceased. Further search of the area, located two additional victims; a male and a female. The female was deceased and the male was transported to the hospital, where he later died.
Sgt. Jacoby and Det. Rollins were assigned to the case. Arriving at the scene; they joined the patrol deputy, who was the first to arrive; and conducted a search of the area. Large tire tracks were discovered, which were made by a large vehicle. Plaster casts were made of the tire tracks and later verified to have been on a large Dodge Truck, which later became significant.
Identity of the three victims revealed; one male was a civilian, and the other two were Navy Personnel who were attending the Submarine School at the Naval Training Center [NTC], in Orlando. Consequently, the case became a joint responsibility of the OCSO and the NTC.
Naval Students were frequenting the ‘High Hopes Bar’ on their weekend liberty. One afternoon, following an argument, a fight ensued between the civilian male victim and a member of a small group. This was a result of the civilian victim not paying the other male money he owed.
A few days later, the victim’s vehicle was found abandoned near an intersection in the county. It was verified that the vehicle had been abandoned three days after the murders had been committed.
Shortly; a male [from the group] was interviewed, away from the Bar, by Sgt. Jacoby. During the interview, they had coffee. Sgt. Jacoby retained the male’s cup for processing. Processing results from the cup; verified, by his DNA and Fingerprints, that he was the person who had abandoned the vehicle.
The Dodge Truck which had been at the orange grove was located and taken in as evidence. The male suspect’s DNA matched DNA from small blood splatters found in the Dodge Truck.
Processing of the victim’s abandoned vehicle, revealed powder on the tire, in the trunk. Removal of the tire disclosed heavier amounts of powder. Processing identified the powder as cocaine.
Several, rather important, issues were developed to include: Identity of persons involved in area drugs, identity of the murder suspects, determination of victim's cause of death, persons involvement with the Dodge Truck, and surprisingly, who owned it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 20, 2024
• ISBN: 9798369416617

Barney Smith

Barney Smith is the author of a previous book; Airport & Aviation Humor which humorously touched on people who had ties with, knowledge about, or experience with airports and aviation.

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Copyright © 2024 by Barney Smith.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/20/2024

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Epilogue

Addendum

References

About The Author

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my loving wife Patricia [Patti] Smith, who passed away on March 3, 2023. She was and still is the shining light in my life. She always maintained a positive attitude, even in the worst of times. Regardless of issues of poor health, or other unfortunate circumstances, her light still shines for everyone to see.

PROLOGUE

Orlando, Florida is a great place for a vacation. It is in Orange County, which is situated in the central portion of the state. It is a little over an hour’s drive to the beautiful beaches on the East or West Coast. It is, however, about a four-hour drive to the beaches on the Southern Coast.

In addition to having an easy access to the beaches, Orlando has numerous beautiful theme parks, to include: Disney World, Sea World, Universal Studios, and Wet and Wild, just to name a few. Naturally, theme parks and beaches draw a significant number of tourists to the area every year. Unfortunately, crime follows tourism, which does not take a holiday.

An incursion of criminals has been created due to the prospects of the numerous available targets, which are tourists. Tourists become targets because they normally arrive in Orlando with resources and other items of value, consequently, a significant number of tourists become victims of theft and/or robbery. It is important to note that tourists are not the only victims in Central Florida because they don’t draw all crimes away, from the many residents who also become victims.

This puts a burden on all law enforcement agencies, to be continually proactive in their dealings with the various degree of crimes. Naturally, this has resulted in a substantial impact on the Orange County Sheriff’s Office [OCSO]. The OCSO, must deal with all criminal offenses occurring outside of the City Limits of all municipalities in Orange County.

To add additional protection for Orange County residents and its tourists, the OCSO Uniform Patrol Commander has provided an increase in the number of Patrol Deputy’s assigned to the theme parks area.

Most recently, Orange County has experienced a significant rise in the higher levels of ‘Crimes Against Persons.’ In that category, there has been a substantial increase in the number of murders, which places more investigative responsibility on the OCSO Homicide Unit. This Unit consists of five teams, with two detectives assigned to each team. This Unit is responsible for investigating all homicides occurring within the county’s jurisdiction

"You have heard that it was said: ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’

Matthew 5:38

God’s Law given by Moses to ancient Israel and was quoted by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount.

CHAPTER 1

I t seems there is never a dull moment in the life of a First Respo nder.

I am Homicide Detective Sergeant, Jake Jacoby and my partner is Homicide Detective, Ed Rollins. We are one of the five Homicide Investigative Teams, within the OCSO. We have a regular Division Secretary. Tiffany Ashton, who will be out for a while with medical difficulties. They are not life threatening but serious enough that she will require a lengthy recovery time. We do keep in touch. Our new secretary, Ella Miller, has been doing a very fine job.

It is a little past noon on Wednesday, March 16th, when Ed and I have just returned to the office after testifying in a court proceeding, on one of our previous homicide cases. We decided to break out our lunches but, unfortunately, it turned out to be a case of bad timing.

Our secretary, Ella Miller, suddenly broke our concentration by alerting us to stand by. It appears, we may have a new murder case assigned to us, since we are the team scheduled for the next murder case assignment. That was not exactly music to our ears. If her suspicions are correct, and they usually are, it looks like Ed and I will be given another opportunity to experience ‘Murphy’s Law.’ Typically for us, we receive most of our assignments on Fridays, just in time to ruin our weekends. Well, today is only Wednesday, so what brought this on? Well, this week is not over yet, so Friday still has its opportunity.

Our communications center advised Ella of an unidentified male, who was found lying in an orange grove, in the South East area of the county. The precise location given was at the corner of Peel Avenue and Michigan Drive, just outside of Orlando’s city limits. The Dispatcher further advised that a Patrol Deputy was en-route to the scene, to investigate the complaint and, if verified, conduct an initial investigation.

We knew what was about to come our way. We decided to prepare ourselves for the bad news, so we put our lunches away and stood by.

It was only a few minutes when Ella received a second call from communication’s, advising her the deputy had arrived at the scene. He was met by an ambulance crew who had arrived earlier. The Ambulance Paramedic confirmed the location of a young deceased male. The paramedic also confirmed, without a doubt, the victim’s death could not have been accidental, or resulting from a suicide. Additionally, they located a second young male, who was still alive, but with life threatening injuries. They will be transporting him to the hospital, as soon they get him stabilized. As a result, the deputy requested that notification be made, to all units which are required to respond to a homicide scene.

The dispatcher confirmed that the Medical Examiner [ME], and the OCSO Crime Scene Investigators [CSIs] had been notified and requested to respond to the scene. The ME gave an estimated time of arrival to be approximately fifteen minutes while the CSIs gave twenty.

Ella was shaking her head and, without smiling, looked at me and said; Well Sarge, you, and Ed, can prepare for your next homicide assignment. At least it is the middle of the week, not the end.

Ed quickly glanced at his watch, saying, solemnly; I was hoping Ella’s Assignment Log was wrong. We are just finalizing our last homicide report, and now she puts us in for this one. It looks like you were right, Sarge, ‘Ole Murphy’ got us again.

Having no options available, Ed and I left the office, headed to the grove. We were familiar with the location of the crime scene because, that orange grove is one of the few remaining in Orange County, and specifically, the only one in that area. The grove is rather small and adjoins a large new housing development, which is under construction. Without a doubt, the housing construction going on in that area will be, soon, likely to leave us with one less orange grove, but such is progress. Thank goodness for California Oranges.

Typically, the number of homicide cases Ed and I have had assigned to us, has maintained a reasonable limit, however, this past year, Orlando has experienced a significant increase in homicides. As a result, the amplified number of cases has kept all five of our Homicide Teams extremely busy. Unfortunately, those extra assignments are the main reason for all of us falling behind in completing our written investigative reports.

I realize it may appear that I’m complaining about our increased case load, but I’m not. In all honesty, our entire unit gives credit to our hardest working member, who is our secretary, Ella Miller. After all, she has ten investigators to support, clerically.

Ed and I rode, individual, in our own car since we would not be returning to the office this evening. Knowing we would be working tomorrow, we agreed to, somehow, keep in mind to make it back to the office around noon time and enjoy our lunches, which will be waiting for us.

Arriving at the orange grove at twelve-fifty, we observed a well-recognized Deputy, Jimmy Hastings, assisting the ambulance crew in loading the surviving victim into the ambulance. Procedurally, we knew Deputy Hasting had been standing by, protecting the crime scene. The ME had, also, just arrived and was getting out of his van.

We walked over to greet the ME, and were surprised to see that it was not Dr. Henry Lampert, the Orange County ME, but it was Dr. Clifford Lee, the Assistant ME.

We barely had time to greet Dr. Lee, when Deputy Hastings approached us.

After the customary greetings had been exchanged, we all followed Deputy Hastings into the orange grove, to the crime scene.

On the way, my thoughts turned to Dr. Lee. Ed and I have been very fortunate to have, at least, spent enough time with him for us to developed a professional relationship. It is very similar to the one we share with the ME, Dr. Lampert. Furthermore, Dr. Lee has a real good sense of humor. He has told us that humor is conducive in creating a pleasant working environment, because it helps eliminate stress and assists significantly in improving morale in the workplace. He believes that every ME needs as much humor as they can get in their line of work.

I finally had the opportunity to ask Dr. Lee; Hey, Doc. What happened to Dr. Lampert?

What is the matter? You don’t think I can do autopsies? Just so you know, Dr. Lampert’s on vacation for two weeks. Before he left, he told me this would provide me with the opportunity to earn my pay for a change.

I looked at Dr. Lee, and asked; All this time, our ME has been hiding his sense of humor. He was kidding about you earning your pay, wasn’t he?

Since it was rhetorical, I continued; I can only guess, when people observe you, me, and Ed together, they probably assume we have absolutely no stress in our life and we possess a wee bit of ‘too much morale.’ Maybe we all should save our humor for the morgue.

Dr. Lee replied, Even at the hospital, more than once when I tried to interject humor, into a negative situation, people would look at me as if I was mentally challenged.

Deputy Hastings got our attention when he pointed to where the victim was lying. He was fully clothed and lying on his back. His clothing was in disarray, his face showed evidence of a severe beating and his chest area was extremely bloody.

Dr. Lee did what is customary for any ME, to do, at the scene of a suspected homicide. He requested photos be taken before anyone touches the body. He said the CSIs should be here shortly, so we would just have to wait.

I took the opportunity to ask Deputy Hastings to give us a brief report of all activities prior to our arrival.

"Detectives, When I arrived at the scene, the ambulance crew was already here. They told me there were two young adult males lying near each other. The paramedic had checked on one victim while the ambulance driver checked on the other one. The paramedic quickly declared the first victim to be deceased. The ambulance driver found the second victim to still be alive but seriously injured. The paramedic immediately turned his attention to the surviving victim and began treatment. Just like the deceased victim, the surviving victim has been severely beaten, resulting in several serious external injuries that could be identified. He had a possible broken jaw, a broken left arm, and he was unconscious. The paramedic suspects there probably are some internal injuries, but it is undetermined as to the extent. He had to be stabilized before they could transport him to the hospital. The surviving victim’s wallet had his Florida Driver’s License which identified him as Brian Devoe. He is twenty-one years old and resides at 1405 Hillcrest Avenue in Orlando.

As you are aware, the deceased victim has not been identified, however, I did not want to contaminate the scene by turning the body over to check for a wallet, until it has been processed. Both victims were found, lying on their backs, with a heavy gage rope used to secure their legs, and tie their hands behind their backs. They both had a dark cloth covering their eyes in a blindfold fashion and duct tape covering their mouths. After confirmation of one victim being deceased and the other one being treated, there was nothing I could do, consequently, I have been standing by, protecting the scene.

We had to stop Deputy Hastings temporarily as the CSI’s van pulled into the grove.

Typically, either CSI Sergeant, Chris Simmons or CSI Deputy, Julie Parks are the ones who have been responding to our crime scenes, but today we were surprised to see a different CSI arriving at the scene.

CSI, Deputy Mark Jensen, got out of the van, grabbed some of his gear, and came over to join us.

Ed spoke first; Hello Mark. It is hard to believe, first we get the Assistant Medical Examiner, and now we get the junior CSI. Are Chris and Julie on vacation along with Dr. Lampert? We haven’t seen you at any of our crime scenes for quite some time and we thought maybe you had retired or something.

"Well, you cannot blame me. Chris and Julie always get to choose their cases because of their seniority, but that is not the reason they are not here. For the next week or so, Chris will be testifying in court on a major drug case. You two may not be aware, but the Sheriff has initiated a new investigative unit, titled ‘Cold Case Investigations.’ Julie has been temporarily assigned to that Unit to go over evidence which has been collected in several Cold Cases. She is targeting cases where the evidence could possibility contain Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. So, now you know why the big guys are absent and why you are being honored with my presence."

That is good, Mark. We ‘re pleased to be honored by your presence, but could you talk our language, and tell us what in the heck is this Oxybose Nuculur Acid, or whatever it is?

"I am sorry Sarge, I just learned how to pronounce Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid myself, so I wanted to try it out. It stands for DNA and…"

I had to interrupt him at this point. Thank you, Mark, for clearing that up. We are extremely content with you representing all CSIs, and we are glad to be working with you. You will see we have quite a scene here for you to process. You have just made it in time as Dr. Lee wants to start his preliminary examination, so, you have not missed much. He wanted to give you the opportunity to take photographs, so he can turn the body over.

Sarge, after I’ve taken the required photographs of the victim, and while the ME is conducting his examination, maybe Ed or you could walk the peripheral area of the crime scene with me. It would be advantageous for two of us to be searching for evidence as soon as possible. That way we can be sure not to miss anything of importance and I can take any additional photographs we might need.

Sure. I replied, with a smile. Either one of us would be glad to assist. For now, while you take photographs for the ME, we need to let Deputy Hastings finish up-dating us with his information.

Deputy Hastings, we apologize for the interruption, please continue.

"Detectives, I did obtain the ambulance crew’s information for you in case you need to contact them later. I also have the information about the complainant, who notified our communications center about a body lying in the orange grove. The complainant is identified as Mrs. Lois Roberts. She is the mother of an eight-year-old boy, who was in the orange grove with some friends playing hide and seek, when they found one of the victims.

They were not aware of the second victim because they immediately ran home to tell Ms. Roberts. She called 911 but did not come to the scene. I have her address as 4119 Peel Avenue which is not far from here. My sergeant went to her residence and asked her if she would come to the scene, but she refused. She said she would talk to someone at her residence but felt it best if she stayed home to comfort her son. He is visibly upset after seeing the body. The good thing about it is the boys did not approach the body, so that lessens the possibility of the crime scene being contaminated. In concluding, you need to know that I no longer have possession of Brian Devoe’s wallet, as the ambulance crew carried it with them. They knew the hospital Emergency Room Medical Staff would need his identification. The ambulance crew said they would alert the E.R. Staff to keep the wallet available. They will need to turn it over to the OCSO, as it may be needed as evidence. It will be turned over to a family member later.

Ed thanked Deputy Hastings for his comprehensive report and for doing such a fine job.

I asked Ed if he would call Ella and have her contact the hospital to determine Brian Devoe’s condition while I call our supervisor, lieutenant Morris.

I called the Lieutenant and up-dated him about our case. I requested he get approval for a Uniform Patrol Deputy to respond to the hospital and stand by until a determination is made, regarding Brian Devoe’s recovery. If he recovers, the deputy needs to be temporarily stationed in Brian Devoe’s room, to provide protection. I also requested a Uniform Patrol Deputy be sent to the Devoe’s residence. Contact needs to be made with a family member to notify them of Brian’s current condition, his location and to advise them we will contact them soon.

This situation is like one we had with a recent homicide where we weren’t sure if our victim was still in danger from the assailants or what the situation was. In this case, there is a distinct possibility the attacker, or attackers, were scared off by cars passing the area. The crime scene is, at least, far enough back into the grove, preventing passing motorists from seeing the bodies as they drive by.

Dr. Lee was using a portable voice recorder to document what he could while Mark was taking photographs. We have a deceased adult male who appears to be in his very early twenties. The victim is dressed in casual clothing with a button-up shirt, jeans, and white sneakers. At the moment, his body has not been moved and he is lying in a similar prone position as the surviving victim. He is lying on his back with his hands tied behind him with heavy gage rope which was also used to secure his feet. He also has a dark cloth wrapped around his head covering his eyes. He has brown hair, with a haircut which resembles a military cut as it is cut very short.

Mark signaled to Dr. Lee, letting him know he was finished taking photographs.

Dr. Lee continued with his recording. The front of his shirt is covered in blood. He paused for a moment to open the victim’s shirt before continuing. It is quite apparent that the young male victim died a painful and horrible death. His face has been beaten severely and his chest shows indications of knife wounds. It is now obvious that the probable cause of death is the result of the numerous stab wounds. The weapon, which was used, appears to have been a large bladed knife. It seems the knife had one edge, which was serrated, since one side of all the wounds have slight tears in the skin. By the condition of the body, the victim was apparently injured where he lies, and bled out in this very spot.

Dr. Lee stopped his recording and asked me and Ed if we could assist him in rolling the victim over onto his stomach.

Mark immediately began taking the required photographs of the victim’s back.

When Mark had finished, Dr. Lee continued with his recording. "After removing all of the victim’s restraints, there appears to be no trauma to his back. There are no visual indications to specify a different cause of death other than