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'Debilitating': Neighbors living in fear after alleged squatters take over Melbourne home

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Published  March 11, 2025 6:57pm EDT
Brevard County
FOX 35 Orlando

Suspected squatters take over Melbourne home

Suspected squatters take over home in Melbourne. FOX 35's Esther Bower learns more about the situation.

The Brief

    • Squatters have occupied a Melbourne home for nearly four years, creating safety concerns and an unsightly mess, but neighbors are frustrated by the lack of action.
    • The property's owner is deceased, and due to new squatter laws, authorities are struggling to remove the individuals without the required affidavit from a homeowner, while the Brevard County Sheriff's Office works on a solution.

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. - Squatters have allegedly taken over a home in Melbourne for nearly four years.

Neighbors say they’ve been fighting to get the property cleaned up, but nothing’s been done so they reached out to FOX 35 for help.

The scene on Seneca Drive in Melbourne has become "honestly debilitating" for April O’Neail, who lives on the street.

You can’t miss the mess spilling onto the street. Now, neighbors believe their safety is in jeopardy.

What they're saying:

"My teen son was assaulted by an adult male from that property last week while he was walking to work," said the concerned mother.

O'Neail doesn’t understand how cleaning up the home and kicking out the alleged squatters is taking years.

"It’s very frustrating when you stop and think about four years of living with this, and it just gets worse and worse," said Dewey Shattuck. He's lived in the neighborhood for nearly 30 years and has never seen it this bad.

While on scene, FOX 35 Reporter Esther Bower asked several people coming in and out of the home what was going on at the property.

She couldn't get an answer, so she took the community concerns to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office to figure out how this is happening.

"The actual owner of the property is deceased, and it went into foreclosure," said Tod Goodyear, who’s the PIO for the sheriff's office.

The property's caught up in the courts, and the state’s new squatter laws that went into effect last summer won’t help.

"As the new law states, we have to have a homeowner to file an affidavit that these people do not belong in this residence and we want them out," he said. "We don’t have that."

The sheriff’s office says they will continue to make arrests at the property and are now working with county attorneys to try and find a solution before things get even worse.

"We are just pleading for help," concluded O’Neail.

STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 35 ORLANDO:

The Source: FOX 35'S Reporter Esther Bower interviewed several homeowners on Seneca Drive who are worried about community safety. She was also sent emails from neighbors who wanted to remain anonymous but did have concerns they wanted to express. She conducted a zoom interview with the Brevard Sheriff PIO, Tod Goodyear, who broke down the challenges they're facing since the property owner died. She attempted to speak with people living on parts of the property from the street. No one would agree to an interview or clarify how long they had been there and what was being done about the mess.

Brevard CountyMelbourneCrime and Public Safety