Thread: Four shot to death Florida including two children

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/treasureco ... odies.html


Four shot to death, dumped alongside turnpike in St. Lucie County
By Allyson Bird

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Friday, October 13, 2006

UPDATED: 11:52 a.m. October 13, 2006

PORT ST. LUCIE — Two adults and two children were found shot to death alongside Florida's Turnpike this morning in St. Lucie County.

A passerby called the Florida Highway Patrol about a possible body on the road across from the St. James Golf Club, just south of mile marker 149.

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Sheriff Ken Mascara said the dead are a man and woman, both in their 20s or 30s, and a boy and girl between 4 and 6. Mascara said the victims appeared to be Hispanic.

There was no car near the bodies, but there were tire tracks, he said.

"You can stand back and see someone has driven off the road," Mascara said.

Mascara said he believes the shootings happened at the scene sometime after midnight.

The woman appeared to be embracing the children. All four suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Tracy Maynor, staff clerk at the golf club, said a resident of the homes along the golf course reported hearing "some shots or fireworks at about 3 in the morning. That's about all we heard."

The medical examiner set up a tent to determine the victims' identities as traffic was rerouted around the crime scene.

The bodies were removed at about 10:30 a.m., and autopsies are scheduled for this afternoon.

The discovery was made just south of the Fort Pierce exit, close to the Interstate 95 interchange.

Cameras posted along the turnpike were not recording at the time, Mascara said.

Anyone with information is asked call the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office at 772-462-3230.

"We are publicly pleading for help now," Mascara said.

The victims' identities are known, but have not been released.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

This is shocking. I have friends who live in Port Saint Lucie. I am going to call them right away to see if they have heard anything.

I live in Port St. Lucie about 5 minutes from where this happened. There has been nothing new to report.

I'm watching this story very closely. They have said that the people are identified, but they are having trouble locating family to notify. They also said they had been driving a jeep with temporary tags on it, but they won't say what state the tags were from. I will be following this for any interesting details.

P.S. Just found this on CNN "The woman, 25, was carrying a Florida ID"

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: National news

Oct. 14, 2006, 12:03PM


Family slain off Fla. highway identifiedBy STEPHEN MAJORS Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A family of four found shot to death along an isolated stretch of highway had moved to Florida from Texas four months ago, authorities said Saturday.


The family, including two boys ages 3 and 4, was found Friday, fatally shot along Florida's Turnpike in Port St. Lucie, about 100 miles north of Miami. Investigators believe their vehicle, a 1998 four-door Jeep Cherokee, had pulled to the side of Florida's Turnpike before someone else in the vehicle shot them and drove away sometime between 1:30 a.m. and 3 a.m.

No one has been arrested, but authorities were searching for clues Saturday into the deaths, Sheriff Ken Mascara said. A search warrant was issued for the family's home in Greenacres in Palm Beach County, where the family had moved from the Brownsville, Texas, area. Authorities also were looking for the family's black Jeep Cherokee, which had a temporary license plate, Mascara said.

The mother, identified as Yessica Guerrero Escobedo, 25, was found clutching her sons in an apparent effort to protect them. The body of the father, Jose Luis Escobedo, 29, was found nearby.

Autopsy results were not expected until Monday, according to the medical examiner's office. Mascara said family members in Texas were notified of the deaths.

The scene of the shootings in a grassy area along the highway had no activity Saturday, a day after a passer-by spotted the bodies and alerted the Florida Highway Patrol, kicking off a search for evidence.

The vehicle left marks in the grass as it pulled away. A turnpike camera was in the area but wasn't recording at the time.

Investigators were watching 480 hours of surveillance tapes from toll booths along the turnpike hoping to spot clues.

They also sifted through trash cans along the turnpike to look for evidence. Bullets found on the scene were being analyzed to see if the same kind had been used in any other crimes, Mascara said Friday.

Family slain along turnpike identified as Greenacres residents
By TYLER TREADWAY
tyler.treadway@scripps.com
Posted at 12:48 p.m.
October 14, 2006
PORT ST. LUCIE — The four victims of Friday's quadruple homicide on Florida's Turnpike were identified today as a father, mother and two young sons who recently moved to Greenacres in Palm Beach County.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara identified the victims as:

• Jose Luis Escobedo Jr., who would have turned 29 today.
• Yessica Guerrrero Escobedo, 25.

• Luis Damien Escobedo, 3.

• Luis Julian Escobedo, 2.

Mascara said the family moved to their home in the 1200 block of Olympic Drive in Greenacres on June 15 from Brownsville, Texas.

Originally, authorities had identified the children as a boy and a girl. In another change, Mascara said the family's vehicle is a black, four-door 1998 Jeep Cherokee with a temporary Florida license plate with number M952180. Authorities originally said they were looking for a two-door Cherokee.

Mascara said a search warrant was served on the family's house in Greenacres but didn't elaborate.

In fact, Mascara declined to answer any questions from the local and national media who gathered at the Sheriff's Office for a noon news conference.

The victims were discovered about 7:52 a.m Friday just off the southbound lanes of the turnpike about three miles south of the Midway Road overpass. Each had been shot several times, authorities said.

Yessica Escobedo was found holding her two children. Jose Escobedo was found face-down just in front of his family.

Anyone with information helpful to the investigation is asked to call the sheriff's detective bureau at (772) 462-3230, or Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at (800) 273-TIPS (800-273-8477).

http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/ar ... 77,00.html

Thanks for the update !!

My very first thought on this when I heard the report was "gangs". I just had that one thought.

My daughter said that to her knowledge that is one member tries to leave, they are hunted down.

Then I thought if the investigation proved they were illegals, might be the parents owed money to a corrupt individual or group either drug or border crossing related.
??????

So sad. No one should ever have this happen. This is a sick person(s) who did such a thing.

My first thought was drug cartel also. I can't imagine any other group that could be so cruel hearted as to kill these young children.

Strange comment from the father of the female victim: "Yessica's father says he knows nothing about the case, telling reporters, " I don't know anything about what happened. They told me not to say anything."

Neighbors: Slain family was quiet
By Don Jordan

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, October 15, 2006

GREENACRES — A day after police searched the home of the slain Escobedo family, neighbors in the quiet Fairway Isles gated community said the family often kept to itself but was friendly.

The Escobedos began renting the three-bedroom, 1,700-square-foot house at 1244 Olympic Circle this summer.
Husband, wife and two children from Greenacres found shot to death off Florida's Turnpike in northern Port St. Lucie. Puzzled police searching for clues.

The home, just east of the Okeeheelee Golf Course, is listed with a monthly rent of $1,650 on an Assist-2-Sell rentals Web site.

Although the family was quiet and didn't interact often with neighbors, "they weren't reclusive or anything," said Patrick Center, the family's next-door neighbor.

Jose Escobedo Jr. stopped by on the day he moved in with his family - his wife, Yessica, and two boys, Luis Damian, 3, and Luis Julian, 4 - introducing himself as "Joe," Center said.

"They were really polite people," Center said. "Really nice."

Jose Escobedo was constantly working on older used cars, which he would fix up and sell at local auctions, said Center, adding that Escobedo often borrowed his jumper cables to get the cars started.

Fixing up and selling cars "is kind of strange," Center said. "I know that that is something you can't really make a career out of."

Other neighbors said they often would lend tools to Escobedo.

On Saturday, metal hurricane shutters still covered the front windows of the family's house. They were put up in August in preparation for Tropical Storm Ernesto.

The home's owner, Jeff McElroy of Wellington, said he never met the family. "All of that was done through a Realtor," he said.

The Realtor could not be reached Saturday.

The neighborhood was bustling late Friday, as police used a bus-sized mobile incident command unit and giant floodlights to illuminate the area and conduct a search of the grounds, Center said.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office officials said they assisted the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office in the search. Officials from both agencies declined to comment.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbcwest/co ... _1015.html

I heard on another newscast earlier that the Sheriff's Dept. knows what Mr. Escabedo did for a living, but won't disclose it.