A man who was independently investigating the 2010 death of Michelle O’Connell has been found dead in his World Golf Village residence.
Because of the history of the O’Connell case, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office asked the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office to take over the investigation. PCSO arrived at the scene off Pacetti Road and Registry Boulevard today, and Major Steve Rose says the investigation is now completely theirs, and SJSO will have no further involvement.
The Sheriff's office responded to a death investigation early this morning at the Laterra Condos at the King & Bear. Due to several caveats relating to the investigation, we’ve asked the Putnam County Sheriff's Office to take it over.
— SJSO (@SJSOPIO) January 31, 2019
Any questions should be directed to them.
The man who was found dead today suffered a gunshot, according to Rose. He says they consider the death to be suspicious, but he would not elaborate on that, including saying if there was any outstanding suspect or if this could be a suicide. Rose says someone called 911 after going to the victim’s home and finding the body.
The victim in this case was investigating the death of 24-year-old Michelle O’Connell in 2010, which is officially ruled a suicide. O’Connell- a single mother to a then-4-year-old- was dating a St. Johns County deputy at the time. Her family believes he was responsible for her death, because the shot that killed her was from his service weapon, and O’Connell was reportedly going to break up with him.
There have been multiple probes in to this case, with fault found in the handling of the investigations at both the county and state level.
Rose couldn’t say at this time in what capacity this victim was investigating the case, except to say he is not affiliated with the Sheriff’s Office and was acting independently. PCSO later shared on Twitter that the victim was doing “personal research”, and not acting professionally.
WOKV has asked SJSO what led them to reach out to PCSO, but have not yet heard back. PCSO says they don’t know the reason, but suspect it is because of their proximity to St. Johns and the fact that they’re in the same Judicial Circuit.
PCSO further says the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office is assisting them with forensics.
BREAKING UPDATE: Putnam County Sheriff's Office says St. Johns County Sheriff's Office called them to investigate suspicious death in World Golf Village because the person found dead was independently/individually investigating the Michelle O'Connell case.
— Stephanie Brown (@SBrownReports) January 31, 2019
Putnam Co. Deputies just got the warrant to get inside the home. pic.twitter.com/XPu5jdUFpP
— Amber Krycka (@AmberANjax) January 31, 2019
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