FORT PIERCE — Sharpkina Yolanda Woods was an outgoing mother of five, a Miami native who enjoyed laughing and talking and taking her kids fishing.

That’s how family members Tuesday described the 35-year-old woman who was found dead Sunday afternoon with her 21-year-old boyfriend, Travis John Lattimore. Lattimore, who has a lengthy arrest record, was wanted in connection with a Feb. 8 homicide in Miami.

“I’m still in shock myself,” said Jimmy Ware, Woods’ 37-year-old brother. “I have no kind of idea who would do this or why.”
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Inmate Ricky Silva explains why he killed his cellmate at the Martin Correctional Institution. TCPalm.com

STUART — Not only does prison inmate Ricky Silva think the death penalty is too severe for his October confession to strangling his cellmate Terry Bell with a shoestring, but he’s proud of what he did.

And he wants you to be proud of him, too. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — A teenager who was shot in the head one week ago died from his injuries early Tuesday, Fort Pierce police said.

Detectives are still investigating the shooting of 17-year-old Travis Lee Woods of the 2900 block of Avenue D. Residents in the 2500 block of Avenue F called 911 at 10:40 p.m. Dec. 15. when they heard gunshots, Sgt. Dennis McWillaims said. Police drove to the block and found Woods wounded and alone, McWilliams said. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — One man died, another was shot and six vehicles were found with bullet holes following a Monday shooting incident in the area of the 500 block of North 19th Street, police reported Tuesday.

Joseph Edward Torre, 20, was found face down in the front yard of an apartment building, and was pronounced dead after being taken to a local hospital. Torre, of the 1700 block of West Royal Tern Lane in Fort Pierce, had been shot in the torso and his breathing was shallow when officers arrived.
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VERO BEACH — A woman killed Monday as part of a murder-suicide at a nursing home had been staying there for about two months, police said.

Mary P. Lett, 84, and her husband, Frederick R. Lett, 91, of the 4700 block of Bethel Creek Drive, Vero Beach, were found dead in the courtyard of the Royal Palm Convalescent Center about 8:50 a.m., Vero Beach police said. The center is in the 2100 block of 10th Avenue.

Police believe Frederick Lett shot his wife during a visit and then turned the gun on himself.
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FORT PIERCE — On a morning just over seven years ago, Joan Loughman was on the phone with her twin sister when she ended their call abruptly.

“She said, ‘I have to go, someone’s at the door,’” Assistant State Attorney Lynne Park told a group of jurors today.

Park said it was the last time anyone heard from Loughman before she was found bludgeoned to death and stripped of her jewelry inside her father’s house on Hutchinson Island south of Fort Pierce.

A jury in 2005 determined that Loughman’s death came at the hands of Michael Andrew Gosciminski, who wound up on Death Row for the crime. But a state court’s ruling last year overturning his conviction has led to a second trial, which began Friday, two days after the seventh anniversary of Loughman’s murder.

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STUART — A Palm City man authorities say killed his father and then buried the body in the family’s back yard has been indicted by a Martin grand jury on charges of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.

The grand jury returned the indictment against Tyson Larimer Chaffin late Wednesday after spending the day hearing evidence presented by Assistant State Attorneys Erin Kirkwood and Bernie Romero.

Chaffin, 26, who is being held without bail at the Martin County jail, is accused of shooting to death his 54-year-old father, Charles Franklin Chaffin. Authorities found his body buried behind his Palm City Farms home on Wisteria Way, near the entrance to Florida’s Turnpike on Martin Downs Boulevard,

A murder investigation was launched by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office after the suspect’s 23-year-old girlfriend, Keisha Stamper committed suicide and her grandmother in Kentucky told deputies she killed herself because she was upset about the murder.

Authorities believe Chaffin shot and killed his father Aug. 1, but the body wasn’t discovered until Aug. 13.

When confronted, Chaffin told detectives he shot his father in the forehead with a .44 caliber handgun during a domestic dispute when he was attempting to remove his belongings from the home, according to arrest reports.

Chaffin said the day before the murder, he’d told his father Stamper had threatened to call police with information that the elder Chaffin was growing marijuana at the home.

On Aug. 1, as Chaffin attempted to get his belongings, he said he saw his father was angry, carrying a handgun and tearing apart the siding on an outside wall near his room.

As a dispute between the two men escalated, according to Chaffin’s statements to authorities, he became fearful for his life and grabbed his gun and fired, striking his father in the head.

He said he then panicked and used a wheelbarrow to carry the body to the back of the property, where he buried Charles Chaffin. After that, he planted three trees over the area.
Melissa E. Holsman, TCPalm.com

The Florida Supreme Court today upheld the death penalty for the man who killed a Fort Pierce Tribune newspaper carrier four years ago.

Steven Hayward was convicted of robbing and murdering Daniel DeStefano, 32, of Port St. Lucie at a convenience store while DeStefano dropped off newspapers along his business route.

DNA samples taken from Hayward’s blood-soaked jeans contributed to his conviction.
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FORT PIERCE — After Julia Rolon-Estrada died of a gunshot wound to the artery in her leg on July 26, 2006, she was wrapped in a blue tarp and again in a green blanket before being buried in the yard of her Port St. Lucie home, near a rear sliding glass door.

A dog trained to find cadavers helped authorities locate the newly tilled grave, which was covered with a wooden pallet holding 20 mulch bags stacked on top.

Rolon-Estrada’s jailed husband, 43-year-old Albert Estrada, state prosecutors say, is the man guilty of killing his wife and high-school sweatheart, who had walked out on him the night before she died at age 39.
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FORT PIERCE — About 6 p.m. Tuesday, the U.S. Marshall Fugitive Task Force arrested David Jerome Brown, 48, of the 500 block of North 27th Street in connection with a Monday night attack on a woman and shooting of her son.

Brown was apprehended at the corner of North 27th Street and Avenue G without incident, said Fort Pierce Detective Ben Thayer.

The male victim was shot in the genitals and his mother pistol whipped Monday night in a suspected domestic-related incident before the attacker fled in a pickup truck, according to a police report released Tuesday and a sergeant.
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