ORANGE COUNTY, Florida—The Florida Highway Patrol is searching for an SUV that fled from a crash involving four other vehicles and pedestrian from Tavares.
The crash occurred at 1:05 p.m. Tuesday at Paul Street and State Road 50, also known as Colonial Drive in Orange County and involved the white SUV, believed to be a Dodge Durango, four cars and a pedestrian. The pedestrian, a 64-year-old Tavares woman, was seriously injured, along with the driver of one the cars, a 19-year-old Orlando woman.
The SUV was captured on video and troopers believe it has damage to its right front, consistent with a scuff, Trooper Migdalisis Garcia said in a press release. If you have information on the SUV, call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS. Callers may be eligible for a reward.
The Florida Highway Patrol is searching for a white SUV, believed to be a Dodge Durango, that was involved in a hit-and-run crash Tuesday afternoon. The crash seriously injured a pedestrian.
GROVELAND, Florida—The man who deputies say rammed three patrol vehicles in a stolen truck, carjacked a citizen and crashed into a school bus is facing five new charges, including three counts of felony criminal mischief, according to a new arrest affidavit.
Joseph Anthony Dale Crawford, 23, of Clermont is in the Lake County Jail on no bond after his two-county crime spree on Feb. 3 ended with him crashing a stolen Ford Bronco into a Lake County Schools bus.
PHOTO: Groveland Police Department
Around 6 a.m. Feb. 3, a woman called the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and reported her white 2019 Ford F-250 had been stolen overnight. She provided GPS coordinates to LCSO, and deputies tracked to truck to a gas station near Hartle Road in Clermont, LCSO Lt. Fred Jones said earlier this month.
They found Crawford pumping gas in the stolen truck and he fled when he saw deputies, ramming two patrol cars, disabling one. He was later boxed in at a construction site, where he rammed a third patrol car, Jones said. LCSO successfully deployed stop sticks and Crawford continued into Oakland in Orange County. The truck became stuck and he fled on foot. He attempted to carjack a vehicle, but was unsuccessful. He then carjacked a Ford Bronco as the driver was exiting the SUV and then fled back to Lake County.
Joseph Crawford was sentenced to three years in prison for false imprisonment and leaving the scene of a crash. He was released in March 2022. PHOTO: Florida Department of Corrections
He continued fleeing into Groveland, where he crashed into a school bus carrying three children and two adults. None of the occupants on the bus were injured, according to Jones.
Groveland Police Department took Crawford into custody and he was transported to an Orlando hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He was arrested that day for three counts of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing and eluding, grand theft, and resisting in Lake County, Jones said. He is facing additional charges in Orange County, but those charges had not been filed with the Orange County Clerk of Court at press time.
PHOTO: Lake County Sheriff’s Office
On Thursday, six days after the crime spree, Crawford was slapped with five additional charges. Video surveillance showed he used the stolen truck to steal a toolbox from truck parked outside a home on Moonflower Court in Clermont and a glasses case from a vehicle on Silver Leaf Circle in Clermont. He is facing a grand theft and petit theft charge for those crimes.
Crawford has also been charged with three counts of felony criminal mischief for damaging three separate guide rail attenuators on Florida’s Turnpike while he was fleeing deputies in the stolen truck. The attenuators are valued at $30,000.
GROVELAND, Florida—A man is facing a slew of charges in Lake and Orange counties after stealing a struck, ramming three Lake County Sheriff’s Office patrol cars, carjacking a citizen and crashing into a school bus Friday morning, according to LCSO Lt. Fred Jones.
LCSO received a call from the owner of the truck around 6 a.m. and she said her truck had been stolen in the middle of the night. She provided GPS coordinates to LCSO, and deputies tracked to truck to a gas station near Hartle Road in Clermont, Jones said.
They found Joseph Crawford, 23, of Groveland, pumping gas; he fled when he saw deputies, ramming two patrol cars, disabling one. He was later boxed in at a construction site, where he rammed a third patrol car, Jones said. LCSO successfully deployed stop sticks and Crawford continued into Oakland in Orange County. The truck became disabled and he attempted to carjack a vehicle, but was unsuccessful. He then carjacked a Ford Bronco as the driver was exiting the SUV and then fled back to Lake County.
Joseph Crawford was sentenced to three years in prison for false imprisonment and leaving the scene of a crash. He was released in March 2022. PHOTO: Florida Department of Corrections
He continued fleeing into Groveland, where he crashed into a school bus carrying three children and two adults. None of the occupants on the bus were injured, according to Jones.
Groveland Police Department took Crawford into custody and he was transported to an Orlando hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He is facing three counts of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing and eluding, grand theft, and resisting in Lake County, Jones said. He is facing additional charges in Orange County.
Crawford’s Lake County booking information and mugshot were not available at press time.
ORANGE COUNTY, Florida—A Leesburg man is dead after running off the road, striking a guardrail and overturning in the truck he was driving Sunday morning, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The 77-year-old man was driving a 2022 Toyota Tundra southbound on State Road 429, when he lost control for an unknown reason at mile marker 28, shortly before 10:30 a.m. Sunday. He ran off the road, struck a guardrail and overturned, FHP Lt. Tara Crescenzi said in a press release.
He and his 73-year-old passenger, a Eustis woman, were transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where the man was pronounced deceased. The Eustis woman was seriously injured, but is in stable condition, Crescenzi said.
APOPKA, Florida—A Eustis man was killed Saturday night after the 2000 Ford Focus he was driving was struck head-on by a 2017 Dodge Ram 1500, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
A 38-year-old Apopka man was driving the Ram eastbound on South Binion Road, also known as County Road 437, near Sheaf Road when he failed to maintain his lane entered the westbound lane and struck the Focus being driven by a 65-year-old Eustis man, shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, FHP Lt. Tara Crescenzi said.
The impact caused the Ram to overturn on its right side and the driver was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. The Eustis man was transported to AdventHealth Apopka, where he was pronounced dead.
ORANGE COUNTY, Florida— A fatal crash has closed the southbound lanes and the inside northbound lane of Orange Blossom Trail at Willow Street, about 5 miles from the Lake County line Friday morning, according to Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Tara Crescenzi.
The intersection is in Orange County but has a Mount Dora address.
The crash involves a 2007 Kia Sedona being driven by a 37-year-old Mount Dora man and a 2007 Harley Davidson being ridden by a 28-year-old Sumterville man. The crash occurred around 6:25 a.m., killing the motorcycle rider and the Mount Dora man was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Crescenzi said.
The crash is still in the preliminary stages of the investigation and FHP has not released how the crash occurred.
EUSTIS, Florida—A discarded beer can helped solve a quarter-century old brutal murder earlier this week, and resulted in the arrest of a Eustis man, according to an Orange County probable cause affidavit.
Kenneth Robert Stough, 54, of Eustis was arrested Tuesday for first degree murder and armed robbery by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
In 1996, Terrence Paquette, 31, was found stabbed multiple times in the bathroom of Lil’ Champ, 4510 Clarcona Ocoee Road, Orlando. The location is now a Kwik Stop, according to Google Maps. Paquette was found by OCSO deputies after receiving a call that the store was dark, and the doors were locked. Another employee stopped by the store when he saw deputies and let them inside with his key.
Upon searching the store, Paquette was found dead and his autopsy revealed he died from multiple penetrating wounds to his heart, lungs, head, chest and abdomen. He suffered a total of 73 injuries, the affidavit states.
Photo credit: Orange County Sheriff’s Office
Crime scene investigators located blood in several parts of the store other than the bathroom, and the pattern indicated the suspect injured himself during the attack and walked around the store. Paquette’s keys were not located in the store and still have never been found; money was also missing from the safe. Several blood samples were sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) for analysis and it was determined that blood from a beverage freezer handle, a freezer flap, lottery machine, the key cylinder from the exterior door and a push bar from a door all came from the same individual and it was not Paquette.
On Sept. 29. 1997, the case was closed “pending further investigative leads.”
In 2003, the case was reopened, and no suspects were identified. In 2019, an OCSO detective began reviewing the case. In March of this year, FDLE contracted with an outside lab to obtain a sample for forensic genetic genealogy and the data was uploaded to genealogy databases. It was determined the sample had distant relatives to both of Kenneth Stough’s parents. Stough’s parents had three sons.
The OCSO detective determined Stough lived just two blocks from Paquette at the time of the murder and they were only three years apart in age. Stough was 28 at the time of the murder.
On Aug. 25, Lake County Circuit Judge Heidi Davis signed a GPS order for Stough’s 2007 black Chevrolet Equinox. On Sept. 14, OCSO began following Stough and followed him to a convenience store in Eustis. After making two trips into the store, Stough backed the Equinox next to a public dumpster and placed a grey plastic bag in the dumpster that appeared to be filled with beer cans.
The detective secured the dumpster and removed the grey plastic bag that had seven 16-ounce Budweiser beer cans. The cans were submitted to FDLE and a sample was obtained from one of the cans. The sample matched the DNA from the beverage freezer handle from the 1996 murder.
A warrant was issued for Stough’s arrest Monday and he was picked up Tuesday. Stough, 54, is being held in the Orange County Jail on no bond.
