A former Jupiter Island Town Commissioner died Monday in Rhode Island in what police there are investigating as a possible suicide.

Finn Caspersen, 67, was found dead Monday at the Shelter Harbor Golf Club in Westerly, R.I. from what police believe is a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Westerly police Capt. Edward St. Clair.
Caspersen a philanthropist, was first elected as town commissioner in Jupiter Island in 2005. He resigned on Aug. 4. Caspersen also had a home in the Shelter Harbor Golf Club where he died.

“As a public servant, policy-maker and overall gentleman, Finn Caspersen exceeded every standard of good measure,” said Jupiter Island Mayor Charles Falcone. “Stoic and soft-spoken, he did a lot of listening during town meetings before carefully weighing in with insight and informed expertise.”

An assistant reached at Knickerbocker, LLC said the family did not want to comment. No funeral information was available.

Caspersen served as the chief executive officer for the Beneficial Corp., a major financial holding company, from 1976 to 1998. More recently he was serving as the chairman of Knickerbocker, a private management company that oversaw numerous trusts and foundations. Caspersen personally donated money to Harvard Law School in Massachusetts as well as the Morristown Memorial Hospital, and schools such as the Peddie School and the Drew University Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, all in New Jersey

Longtime friend Tom McNicholas described Caspersen as “approachable and genuine” and said: “Each time I would refer to him as Mr. Caspersen he would peer over his glasses, softly chuckle and say, ‘Call me Finn.’ He was a friend and always fair to everyone.”

As a town commissioner, Caspersen was pushed for a town referendum on whether to bury power lines on the island underground. He also got involved in Martin County’s contentious debate over real estate development, paying $17,000 out of his own pocket in 2006 to bankroll a phone survey of 500 Martin County residents about their views of population growth. He also created a political action committee, Keep Martin green, that ran advertisements opposing rapid growth in the county.

“Finn had strong convictions towards protecting our environment and he invested a lot of his own money and time to support local causes like Keep Martin Green which focused on smart growth and environmental protection,” McNicholas said.

This is the second longtime Jupiter Island official to die in recent months. Town Manager Joe Connolly, a friend of Caspersen, died of Lou Gehrig’s disease just days after Caspersen resigned from the town commission in August. Deputy Town Manager Gene Rauth said the town is considering a memorial to Caspersen.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

A six-member jury took only two hours to find Indian River County Administrator Joe Baird not guilty of DUI late Wednesday afternoon.

Baird, noticeably jubilant, sat with his attorney Bobby Guttridge as the court clerk read the verdict at 3:57 p.m. Baird then hugged his girlfriend and deferred comments to his attorney, before leaving the courthouse. (more…)

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Theresa Caputo of Stuart, in black, hugs another woman Wednesday at the scene of a memorial that was built along Cove Road near Stuart. Caputo, a mother of three, said her children all knew and grew up with those killed. (DEBORAH SILVER/Treasure Coast Newspapers)

A few teenagers in board shorts and T-shirts lifted their sunglasses just long enough to wipe away their tears and hug one another in the grass along Cove Road Wednesday afternoon as they stood above a swelling memorial site.

Amid her tears, a mother bent down, reached through the letters, flowers and mementos and clutched a golf ball in her hand.

Angela Coady said she knew one of her son Nick’s friends had put it there intending for it to stay, but when she saw it she decided she had to take it with her.

“The last time I saw him he was going to play golf. He was happy as a lark,” she said. “The next time I saw him, he was dead.”

Nick Coady, 18, and his friends — Christopher Harold Briglio, 18, and Connor William Graver, 16, — were all killed early Tuesday when the Jeep Grand Cherokee that Coady was driving slammed into the back of a John Deere truck and overturned.

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FELLSMERE — A 1-year-old boy will be buried Friday as authorities continue the investigation into his death.

Family members found Aiden Alvarado unconscious inside a sports utility vehicle parked in the 100 block of Oak Street about 5 p.m. Saturday, Indian River County Sheriff’s Sgt. Thom Raulen said Thursday. Paramedics from Indian River County Fire Rescue arrived and declared the boy was dead, Raulen said. Family members told investigators the boy was in a car for at least a couple of hours.

The state Medical Examiner’s Office said heat was a prime factor in the boy’s death, Raulen said. Saturday’s high temperature reached 86 degrees in Vero Beach. (more…)

By JOE CRANKSHOW
TCPalm.com

Popular morning radio talk show host, Ed Burchfield, 67, died Wednesday, ending a three-year battle with cancer.

Known as “Mr. Ed,” Burchfield had been a staple on local radio since 1983, said Greg Wyatt, vice president and general manager for WPSL/WSTU/WJNX radio.

Burchfield first appeared on WIRA 1400 AM of Fort Pierce in 1983 with a morning show, “Breakfast with Burchfield.” He moved to WPSL 1590 to take over the morning show that had been started by Greg and Carol Wyatt in 1994.

Burchfield was paired with newsman Charlie Neeld for more than 12 years, making them the longest-running radio duo on the Treasure Coast.

Breakfast with Burchfield was known for taking the show on the road. Whether it was in downtown Stuart or downtown Fort Pierce, or at Port St. Lucie public works facilities, WPSL’s “Breakfast with Burchfield” had been there. (more…)

MARTIN COUNTY — Former Martin County Commissioner John William Holt Jr., who helped create the original Martin County Comprehensive Land Use Plan, died Monday at Treasure Coast Hospice. He was 79.

“He had been ill for some time,” said his wife of 57 years, Evelyn. “His heart just gave out.”

Born in Pahokee, Dec. 15, 1929, the son of John W. Holt Sr. and his wife, Hosea, Holt grew up on a ranch in western Martin County. His brother was former Martin County Sheriff Jim Holt. Like his father and brother, Holt was a rancher.
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Tristan Allegra

PORT ST. LUCIE — Students and staff at Mariposa Elementary School remember Tristan Allegra, 8, “very kind and helpful, cool and funny,” according to a counselor who helped them cope with the third-grader’s Christmas Day death.

“Tristan was a popular kid, very well-liked,” said Robert O’Neill, a St. Lucie County School District psychologist, one of three counselors who went to the school Monday and Tuesday as classes resumed after the holiday break.

Sign Tristan’s guest book.

According to a Port St. Lucie Police Department arrest affidavit, Tristan died after his mother, Eryn Allegra, of the 2200 block of Southeast Bowie Street, smothered him in his sleep early Christmas morning in a hotel room. She is held without bond on a charge of first-degree murder.

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JENSEN BEACH — A funeral Mass for Tristan Allegra, an 8-year-old boy who was killed Christmas Day, allegedly smothered to death by his mother, will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Martin De Porres Catholic Church, 2555 N.E. Savannah Road, according to All County Funeral Home & Crematory.

The mother, 31-year-old Eryn Allegra, who is in the St. Lucie County Jail on a first-degree murder charge, was not listed as a survivor. Tristan was a student at Mariposa Elementary School in Port St. Lucie. (more…)