David Richardson

Justin Pope

At about 7:20 p.m., Fort Pierce residents David Richardson and Justin Pope called 911 to report that they had been robbed, according to sheriff’s reports.

They said they had been driving along La Salle Street with Richardson’s girlfriend when two men, one armed with a gun, approached their vehicle and demanded money, deputies said.

Richardson, 23, and Pope, 22, said they handed over $450 and the men ran into a nearby home, the reports state. (more…)

Zachary Weir

Zacharay L. Weir, 20, is accused of breaking into a woman’s Coral Gardens home on Wednesday and stealing $1,890 worth of her things.

When the woman reported the theft to Martin County Sheriff’s deputies, she named Weir as a possible suspect, according to a sheriff’s report. (more…)

WEST PALM BEACH — Rob Murphy loves talking about his spearfishing adventures. Since earning his scuba diving certification last year, he estimates he has made almost 400 dives.

But Murphy will never forget his last dive on Jan. 9 when while surfacing in waters northeast of the St. Lucie Inlet, Murphy was struck by a passing boat. The boat operated by Roger Nicosia, an emergency room physician at Martin Memorial Medical Center North, severed Murphy’s legs.

Murphy lost nearly half his blood. He was lucky to escape with his life, and doctors couldn’t save his legs. (more…)

VERO BEACH — Ray Adams took his wife Phyllis outside, behind her work place, and told her to hold him as tight as she could — just like he held her.

What he said next devastated her, there in the bright sunshine off Ocean Drive.

Their 19-year-old son Nolan died a few hours earlier on Jan. 25, 2005. He ingested two capsules of the potent drug methadone William McCartney III, 34, is accused of selling to him illegally for $50 the day before in Vero Beach. (more…)

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Significant traffic tie-ups could again affect motorists today on U.S. 1 as paving continues between Rio Mar Drive and Midway Road.

Tie-ups were expected to be worse for southbound traffic as the highway in some areas is down to one lane. Shortly before 8 a.m., southbound traffic was backed up about two blocks at Midway Road. There were two lanes open northbound and traffic was moving along fine at that time.

Florida Department of Transportation officials had said U.S. 1 between Rio Mar Drive and Midway Road would have a lane closed in one direction at a time for final paving through 7 p.m. today. This work, which was expected cause traffic delays, can be done only during daylight hours because overnight temperatures are too low for this type of asphalt work, officials said.

Other work in this 3-mile-long construction zone requires overnight lane closures in each direction from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. The work is part of the widening of U.S. 1 from four to six lanes. Other improvements include new streetlights and traffic signals, landscaping, 6-foot-wide sidewalks and 4-foot-wide bike lanes. The $27.3 million project began in May 2006 and is scheduled to be completed March 9.
TCPalm Staff

WEST PALM BEACH — By the time the shooting stopped along Florida’s Turnpike in the early hours of Oct. 13, 2006, 27 gunshot wounds covered the bodies of the Escobedo family.

Treasure Coast Medical Examiner Roger Mittleman spent most of the first full day of testimony in the trial surrounding their deaths accounting for each of those wounds in detail while jurors stared at dozens of autopsy photos.

Yessica Escobedo, 25, received the most wounds, shot 11 times. Her husband, Jose Luis, 28, had five wounds to his face, abdomen, genitals and leg. Luis Julian, 4, had six wounds, including a shot to his head that likely killed him instantly.

According to Mittleton, though, the boy’s younger brother Luis Damian, 3, was not as fortunate. He had five wounds and died, though not instantly, from the bullet that tore through both of his lungs, filling his airway with blood. Mittleman described it as “a suffocating-type death, drowning in one’s own blood.”

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FORT PIERCE — Five people were arrested Monday night after investigators found more than six pounds of cocaine in the kitchen of a home on Sanibel Avenue, according to arrest affidavits released Tuesday.

Investigators with the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Drug Enforcement Administration executed a search warrant about 9 p.m. at the home in the 5000 block of Sanibel Avenue.

Investigators found 3 kilograms, or about 6.6 pounds, of cocaine in the kitchen.

Two people whose listed address is the home — Clinton Johnson, 48, and 21-year-old Tierra Clay — each were arrested on a cocaine trafficking charge. Three others there at the time — Quentin Dixon, 38; Dennis Clark, 40; both of Fort Pierce; and Todd Jackson, 42, of Rockledge — each also face a cocaine trafficking charge.

– Will Greenlee

FORT PIERCE — An 81-year-old man who had accepted a plea deal on child molestation charges claimed his innocence Tuesday just as he was to be sentenced, prompting Circuit Judge Cynthia Cox to order a psychiatric evaluation.

The sentencing hearing for Aureliano Garcia-Campo of Port St. Lucie had gone on nearly three hours when Cox gave him a chance to speak. Garcia-Campo said through an interpreter, “The only thing I have to say is that I am innocent.”

Authorities charged that Garcia-Campo, while a volunteer at a Head Start day-care center on Lennard Road in fall 2007, inappropriately touched several 4- and 5-year-old girls. One girl told police he not only touched her genitals and buttocks but also fondled her.

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Divers across the state are organizing a Dive Flag Awareness Day on Saturday to raise awareness following a recent boating accident in which a Martin County man lost both his legs below the knee.

Rob Murphy, 26, was hit by a boat while scuba diving earlier this month in Stuart.

Volunteers plan to distribute brochures with a copy of the law that requires boaters to stay 300 feet away from a diver’s flag. The brochure also reminds divers to carry and display the required flags. Volunteers also will hand out bumper stickers with a message about the law. (more…)

A Port St. Lucie woman won a $1 million holiday raffle prize, the Florida Lottery announced today.

Tatiana Saavedra, 28, is the last of nine $1 million raffle winners to claim their prize. She purchased her winning ticket at a Valero at 1297 SW Gatlin Blvd. in Port St. Lucie. Her winning ticket was 0-5-3-8-1-7-7.

Other winning tickets also were purchased in Orlando, Miami, Pinecrest and St. Augustine.