Citrus County woman accused of shooting and killing 2 ex-husbands: ‘This is bizarre’
BRADENTON, Fla. - A Citrus County woman has been arrested after men in Bradenton and Tampa were found shot to death on Wednesday.
What we know:
According to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, shortly before 3 p.m. on Wednesday, deputies went to a home in the 7000 block of Chatum Light Run where they found a 54-year-old man suffering from two gunshot wounds.
The victim told deputies that someone came to his home and shot him after he answered the door and that it may have been his ex-wife, Susan Avalon.
The victim’s 15-year-old daughter was home at the time of the shooting. Sheriff Wells said the teen did not see the shooting, but she did hear three gunshots.
The victim was shot once in the abdomen.
The sheriff said the teen looked out the window and saw a silver Honda Odyssey driving off.
"I want you to understand how traumatized she is," Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells said. "She has no idea what is going on, but she saw this vehicle and gave us this information. She also tells us that the person who got into the car was wearing a gray sweatshirt and a mask."
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Detectives learned that the suspect arrived at the Bradenton home with Panera Bread food and when the victim opened the door, the suspect opened fire immediately.
"It doesn’t get any more brazen than this," Well stated. "This is a very active neighborhood. It’s 3 o’clock in the afternoon on Wednesday. Kids are coming home from school. A lot of activity as you can imagine. She didn’t seem to care."
Detectives went to the Panera Bread and looked through surveillance video and saw the suspect grab the food and leave.
Wells noted that the food did not belong to the suspect and she did not pay for it.
Courtesy: Manatee County Sheriff's Office
Wells said the Avalon and the victim were married for 11 years and she owed him about $4,000 in child support.
Wells said Avalon drove an Odyssey and deputies tracked her license tag going over the Sunshine Skyway and into Citrus County.
Deputies went to Avalon’s home in Citrus County and saw her coming out of her home with bleach and rags. The sheriff said she went to her car and started wiping it down.
Dig deeper:
Deputies approached her and said they were there to speak about her ex-husband and she asked which one.
"We only know of one," Wells explained. "She starts to make comments that he’s a child abuser. He’s a molester. Just talking about all these problems she’s had with this ex-husband. She thinks we’re there from Hillsborough County. She thinks my detectives are Hillsborough County detectives. Detectives are trying to figure out what she’s talking about."
Avalon’s live-in boyfriend said Avalon recently discovered where her ex-husband was living.
"She told him yesterday that in case something happens to her, she loves him and she just wanted him to know that. He said that was kind of out of character for her. We start to dig in to this second ex-husband that we know nothing about and we find that she was married again after she was married to our victim and this ex-husband lives in Tampa," Wells explained.
Tampa police went to that ex-husband’s home, but he didn’t answer.
"She’s got beef with both these ex-husbands," Well said.
Tampa police discovered damage to the man’s door and saw that he had been shot and killed, according to Wells.
Well said that when Avalon got to her Citrus County home, she never told her live-in boyfriend what happened, but added that she did take a shower and tried to get rid of any evidence inside of her car.
"We don’t know why yesterday was the day she decided to take this action," Wells said.
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The sheriff went on to say that detectives believe she killed her second ex-husband in Tampa and then went to Panera, took the food, and went to her first ex-husband’s home, knocked on the door and shot him.
Manatee County Sheriff’s Office is working with the Tampa Police Department on this investigation.
She has been charged with first-degree homicide by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
"We believe she knew what she was doing. It was planned. We believe she came here to kill her ex-husband," Well said.
What's next:
Wells said that MCSO is working with the state attorney’s office to seek the death penalty.
He said that she will also face charges in Hillsborough County.
The Source: This article was written with information provided by the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.