Violent End to August as LCSO Investigates 5 Homicides in 6 Days

LAKE COUNTY, Florida— It was a bloody and violent end to August in Lake County, as the sheriff’s office continues to investigate five homicides that occurred in just six days from one end of the county to the other. Numerous sources have told Inside Lake there was yet another homicide in unincorporated Fruitland Park Saturday, but LCSO did not respond to an email or a text all day Sunday to confirm.

Altoona, Aug. 25

Around 9 p.m. Aug. 25, Shane Eugene Clements, 41, of Altoona, and David Thomas Mikell, 34, of Umatilla were found dead at a home at 45918 Pennsylvania Road in Altoona. The two men were shot, and deputies were looking for two persons of interest, Roger Myles Gilbert, 35, and Samantha Butler, age unknown, both of Alabama.

The following day Gilbert and Butler fled from Ormond Beach Police and crashed in a KFC parking lot. Butler was found dead in the wrecked white Volvo and Gilbert fled on foot. OBPD does not believe Butler died from injuries sustained in the crash but has not released a manner or cause of death.

Gilbert was apprehended in a nearby Dollar Tree and is being held in the Volusia County Jail on a variety of charges, including possessing the stolen gun that was found in his waistband.  

Gilbert remains a person of interest in the deaths of Mikell and Clements but has not been charged. LCSO has not revealed a motive for the slayings.

Roger Gilbert and Samantha Butler were named as persons of interest in the killings of David Mikell and Shane Clements in Altoona Aug. 25. Gilbert was arrested in Volusia County in a separate incident and Butler was found dead in the crash the couple crashed while fleeing police. PHOTO: Samantha Butler/Facebook

Unincorporated Clermont, Aug. 31

A man was arrested Wednesday after a young woman reported he raped her repeatedly and killed his own stepson at 244 Jewelfish Lane in the Thousand Trails RV Resort in unincorporated Clermont. The woman told LCSO she heard screaming and found Justin Jones, 41, on top of his stepson, Ty Finister, 17, striking him.

She screamed for Jones to stop, and he slammed her to the ground, duct-taped her ankles, wrists, mouth and eyes and raped her repeatedly. Eventually she was able to escape and call for help. LCSO responded and found Finister dead, along with his mother, Sandra Gaudino, 38. The rape victim’s relationship to both murder victims and Jones is not being released because she is the victim of a sex crime.

Jones was apprehended walking southbound near a Publix, 4351 U.S. Highway 27, Clermont. Earlier this week LCSO released body cam showing Jones being taken into custody.

He was arrested for two counts of domestic first-degree murder, domestic false imprisonment and domestic sexual battery. Jones, of Michigan, confessed to the crimes and told detectives he beat both murder victims with a mallet and raped the young woman.

Jones is being held in the Lake County Jail on no bond.

Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrest Justin Jones of Michigan, who confessed to killing his wife and stepson and raping another woman. VIDEO: Lake County Sheriff’s Office

Unincorporated Leesburg, Aug. 31

A man reported missing Wednesday was found dead in Marion County and a man known as “Maniac” is responsible, according to LCSO.

Casey Dean’s body was found near the home of a friend of Matthew “Maniac” Luke Allen, 26, and a woman Allen met on the dating app “Plenty of Fish,” told LCSO Allen shot him and disposed of his body, according to an arrest affidavit.

She told deputies Allen was standing across from Dean Sunday afternoon yelling about a gun on a coffee table that was believed to be inoperable. She said she heard Allen yell, “Why would you pull a gun on people that doesn’t work?” followed by a gunshot. Dean succumbed to his neck wound on a couch and Allen and another man are alleged to have rolled Dean’s body up in a rug and put him in the back of a Dodge Ram. Allen then forced the unidentified woman to help him dispose of the body. Two children also witnessed the killing.

The pair stayed at an undisclosed location and the woman, who feared Allen was going to kill her, convinced him to let her go home Wednesday to retrieve clothes. Allen, who allegedly planned on fleeing the state Thursday, allowed to woman to leave in a borrowed car. She dumped the car at a Marion County convenience store and escaped by calling a friend to come get her.

When she arrived home, she cooperated with LCSO and gave them information on the killing and where Allen dumped the body.

Allen was picked up in Marion County on outstanding Sumter County warrants and arrested for manslaughter, kidnapping. tampering with evidence, unlawful transportation of human remains, grand theft auto and child neglect. He is being held in the Marion County Jail on no bond.

Matthew “Maniac” Allen is accused of shooting Casey Dean in the neck and dumping his body in Marion County. PHOTO: Marion County Sheriff’s Office
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