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 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.