MOUNT DORA, Fla.—The holiday season in Lake County kicks off Saturday in Mount Dora with the city’s annual Light Up Mount Dora event.
4 to 6 p.m. Donnelly Park: Holiday program hosted by Magic 107.7’s Chad & Leslye
4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Elizabeth Evans Park: Live music and a special appearance by Buddy the Elf
6 to 9 p.m. Sunset Park: Main Street Leasing Christmas tree lighting, photos with Santa
6:30 p.m. Sunset Park: Fireworks over Lake Dora
7:30 p.m. Elizabeth Evans Park: Drone show hosted by John Brown of Fox 35 Orlando
Bring blankets or chairs and admission to each event is free. Parking and shuttle buses will be available from 3 to 10 p.m. at the following locations:
First Baptist Church, 1000 E. 1st Street (no)charge
Highland Street Parking Lot, 1250 N. Highland Street (no charge)
Mount Dora Christian Academy, 301 W 13th Avenue (organization collecting a fee)
TAVARES, Fla.—The suspect in a brutal 2022 Mount Dora double murder is now competent to proceed, according to an order signed by Lake Circuit Judge Cary Rada last month.
Vickie Lynn Williams, 51, is accused of stabbing Darryl Getman, 83, and Sharon Getman, 80. The married couple was murdered in their Waterman Village home sometime between the hours of 11 p.m. Dec. 30, 2022, and 2 a.m. Dec. 31, 2022.
After allegedly murdering the couple, Williams stole their green Kia Soul and was still driving it when she was apprehended by a Savannah Police Department officer at a Georgia Amtrak station on Jan. 2, 2023. She was indicted later that month and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case that shocked Lake County.
In May, Williams was found incompetent to proceed and turned over to the Department of Children and Families (DCF.) While in its custody, Williams was evaluated and a “Competency Evaluation Report to the Court” completed in September and authored by Dr. Armando Collado Ph.D., was submitted to the Court and independently reviewed by Rada.
“The defendant’s appreciation of the charges, appreciation of the possible penalties, understanding of the adversarial nature of the legal process, capacity to disclose to counsel facts pertaining to the proceedings, capacity to manifest appropriate courtroom behavior, and capacity to testify relevantly are all acceptable,” Rada stated in his order.
Williams next plea negotiation conference is scheduled for Tuesday.
MOUNT DORA, Fla.—Mount Dora Police Department is investigating after a woman was robbed of her purse at gunpoint in a parking lot late Saturday afternoon.
The victim told police a black male, dressed in all black, wearing a ski mask and armed with a silver semi-automatic firearm, approached her as she was about to enter her vehicle in the parking lot of Viva Liquor 1 , 101 South Highland Street, around 5:40 p.m., according to MDPD.
The suspect took the woman’s purse and demanded her phone, but she refused to give it to him. He threatened to shoot her and then fled west on 1st Avenue toward Clayton Street in a silver SUV.
If you have information, call MDPD’s Criminal Investigations Unit at 352-735-7130.
MOUNT DORA, Fla.—Mount Dora Police Department is searching for an armed robber who robbed a customer at a liquor store late Saturday afternoon.
A suspect wearing all black and a ski mask robbed a customer at Viva Liquor 1, 101 South Highland Street, around 5:40 p.m. Saturday and fled the scene in a silver SUV. No other details were released Saturday night and police were still on scene investigating.
If you have information, call MDPD at 352-735-7130.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information that the store was robbed.
EUSTIS, Fla.—A Eustis Police Department road patrol sergeant is OK after a suspect slammed into his marked patrol truck while he was at a stop sign early Sunday morning.
An EPD road patrol officer was patrolling the area of Center Street and Orange Avenue at 12:50 a.m. Sunday when he spotted a white Ford speeding and driving recklessly eastbound on Orange Avenue, according to an arrest affidavit. The officer notified his sergeant, L. Arnold, the vehicle was traveling toward Abrams Road and the officer lost sight of it around Glover Street, according to an arrest affidavit.
Arnold was traveling on Abrams Road and after he stopped at the stop sign at Abrams Road and Orange Avenue, also known as State Road 44, the white Ford made a sharp turn onto Abrams Road and slammed into the left front fender of his truck, causing Arnold’s head to smack against the driver’s side window and shatter it, EPD Chief Craig Capri told Inside Lake.
The window of EPD Sgt. L. Arnold’s truck after his head shattered it when a car slammed into him at a stop sign early Sunday. The crash also damaged the left, front fender of the truck. PHOTOS: Eustis Police Department
Arnold called out on the radio he had been involved in a crash, exited his patrol truck and drew his firearm because he did not know if the driver struck him intentionally, the affidavit states. The driver, identified as Davonta Carter, 29, of Mount Dora, then got out of the vehicle and began running westbound on Orange Avenue.
Arnold gave chase and the first officer who spotted Carter speeding, pulled up and began chasing Carter at gunpoint too. After several commands to “stop,” Carter laid down in the middle of Orange Avenue and surrendered, the affidavit states. He was placed in the back of a patrol car that was parked in the middle of Orange Avenue and the officer moved the car to a nearby gas station.
Carter, covered in sweat, requested EMS to check him out, Lake EMS responded, and Carter refused transport; his passenger, Miavohni Wright, 23, of York, Penn., was transported to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares with non-life-threatening injuries. Officers searched the vehicle and found a black and white Adidas bag with a 9mm handgun, two plastic bags containing crack cocaine and a bag of marijuana.
Carter was arrested for leaving the scene of a crash with injuries, driving while license suspended, reckless driving, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a controlled substance, driving while license suspended and resisting without violence. He was transported to the Lake County Jail, where staff advised he needed to be checked out by the hospital before being booked, due to being involved in a crash. He was transported to AdventHealth Waterman, where he was medically cleared, and transported back to LCJ, where he is being held on $41,000 bond.
MOUNT DORA, Fla.—Mount Dora Police Department is investigating after a male was shot in the area of East Jackson Avenue around 8:15 p.m. Monday.
Police released very little information Tuesday; Spokesperson Misty Sommer confirmed to Inside Lake a male was shot in the leg and airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. His name and age were not released and the incident is under investigation.
This is the second shooting in Mount Dora in a little more than a month. On Aug. 2, several people were at Cauley Lott Park, just a few blocks from Monday night’s shooting, along with vehicles parked along Pine Street, when a dark-colored, late model sedan backed out of a parking space. Two people walking down the sidewalk began firing at the sedan and a third shooter returned fire. A bystander was shot in the leg and was transported to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares by a family member for treatment. An unoccupied SUV was also struck with multiple bullets, Sommer said last month.
If you have information on either shooting, call MDPD’s Criminal Investigations Unit at 352-735-7130.
MOUNT DORA, Fla.—The City of Mount Dora has lifted its precautionary boil water notice, according to spokesperson Misty Sommer.
“Lab results have confirmed that no contaminates were found in our water supply, and it’s safe for all normal use,” Sommer said in an email shortly before 1 p.m. Friday.
Around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, an independent contractor struck a water main while working on a development at U.S. Highway 441 and Natoma Boulevard. Residents and businesses lost water, and most were restored by 11 p.m. Tuesday. The city issued a boil water notice following restoration and expected it to be lifted by Friday.
TAVARES, Fla.—A former high school teacher has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually battering a foreign exchange student last year.
A Lake County jury found Dmitri V. Kostyunin, 51, guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, delivery of cannabis to a person under 18 and sexual battery in March.
Kostyunin was employed as a science teacher at Apopka High School when he was arrested in October 2023 after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) contacted Mount Dora Police Department and stated a “sexual incident” occurred at Kostyunin’s home in Mount Dora. The victim told authorities that Kostyunin gave him marijuana edibles and alcohol and performed sex acts on the boy in two different rooms in his home in September 2023. The boy, from Italy, had been staying with Kostyunin since August 2023 as part of a foreign exchange student program, Gladson’s office said. The boy’s age has never been released.
During an interview, Kostyunin admitted giving the boy THC edibles, wine and beer and claimed he “blacked out” and woke up to evidence of a sexual encounter, and “he knew he made a mistake,” his arrest affidavit states.
MOUNT DORA, Fla.—Mount Dora Police Department is seeking the public’s help in identifying three people who fired shots at a popular park early this month.
MDPD released a surveillance video Monday that captured the early evening shooting Aug. 2 at Cauley Lott Memorial Park, 1717 North Highland St., Mount Dora.
According to police, several people were at the park, along with vehicles parked along Pine Street, when a dark-colored, late model sedan backed out of a parking space. Two people walking down the sidewalk began firing at the sedan and a third shooter returned fire, Spokesperson Misty Sommer said.
A bystander was shot in the leg and was transported to AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares by a family member for treatment. An unoccupied SUV was also struck with multiple bullets, Sommer said. It is unknown if anyone in the sedan was injured, she said, because no one has contacted MDPD.
“This incident could have been a real tragedy, as there were bystanders of all ages in the area at the time,” Sommer said in a press release. “This type of violence in a city park built for the enjoyment of our residents and visitors should not be tolerated.”
If you have information on the shooting, call MDPD’s Criminal Investigations Unit at 352-735-7130.
MOUNT DORA, Fla.—Mount Dora Police Department is searching for a man who has been missing since Sunday.
James “Jim” Mackey was reported missing shortly before 11:45 p.m. Sunday and was last seen leaving Chacall Loop in his grey 2014 Ford Taurus, license plate 83DIWH and was traveling in the direction of Natoma Boulevard in the Summerbrooke neighborhood, according to MDPD.
James “Jim” Mackey’s Ford Taurus.
Mackey has multiple health conditions, including diabetes, glaucoma with blindness in his left eye and is in the early stages of dementia.
He is 5’9”, 198 pounds, with blue eyes and grey hair with a buzz cut. He was last seen wearing a blue shirt and grey shorts. He does not have his phone with him.
If have information on Mackey’s whereabouts, call MDPD at 352-735-7130.
