PANAMA CITY BEACH – The bodies of two men who disappeared while swimming off the coast were found Sunday, Panama City Beach police reported.

Tony Underwood Jr., of Rex, Ga., drowned Saturday in the water near the Chateau Motel at 12525 Front Beach. He went missing about 6 p.m. after losing grip of a flotation device and getting caught in an undertow, according to PCB police. Rescue crews searched the area but did not find him. His body was recovered beachside at County Pier about 11:15 p.m.

The other swimmer, 26-year-old Korvotney Barber, of Manchester, Ga., went missing in the water behind Pineapple Willie's on Front Beach about 7 p.m. Saturday. According to a police broadcast, Barber was knocked underwater by a wave after swimming past a sandbar. Shortly before 4 p.m. Sunday, Barber’s body was found by a passerby between Boardwalk Beach and Resort Condominiums and Top of the Gulf condos, PCB police said.

Barber was a basketball player at Auburn University from 2005 to 2009. In a public statement released Sunday, Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs said Barber’s death was “tragic and untimely.”

The Bay County Sheriff's Office had posted double red flags on the beaches in Bay County on Saturday, indicating swimming conditions are highly hazardous and have an increased likelihood of strong currents and high surf. Also, beaches are closed to swimmers during the posting of double red flags.

Double red flags were posted again Sunday. 

MARIANNA — In June 2007, Marie Patterson retired from Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System as a paramedic. A month or two later the phone rang, and the voice on the other end said: “Marie, do you want to fly helos?”

“I said, ‘I sure do,’ ” Patterson said.

Patterson, of Panama City Beach, now spends her working hours racing through the sky at speeds up to nearly 170 miles per hour, sometimes in night-vision goggles, keeping people alive. Now in her sixth year as a flight paramedic for Air Heart Sacred Heart Medical Center, Patterson has been awarded Paramedic of the Year by the Florida Department of Health.

She accepted her award Thursday at a ceremony in Orlando.

“It’s a very big deal,” Patterson said. She was surprised to win after being nominated by one of the nurses she works with, Patterson said. “I’d been teasing her. I said … ‘you can submit those letters but they’re not going anywhere.’ ”

Patterson worked in ambulances for 23 years before she took her work to new heights. She works with a team of pilots, nurses and a mechanic out of an office at the airfield in Marianna. They were not as surprised as Patterson to learn she had been honored by the state.

“We knew she was the best,” mechanic Lee Munshower said. “We didn’t need anybody to tell us.”

Being a paramedic is challenging enough, but being a paramedic in the air requires her to maintain more rigorous certifications. The certifications all have acronyms like PALS and NICU. She calls them the alphabet soup. Because she has to keep them current, classes and study keep her busy even when she doesn’t have any patients.

“A lot of times when you come in this base, if we’re not busy we’re on the computer doing class,” she said.

Patterson and company move patients in emergency situations in the Panhandle to hospitals from Pensacola to southwest Georgia and south Alabama. Getting them to a doctor five or 10 minutes sooner can have a big impact not only on patients’ survival, but on their recovery as well.

“Some whether they lived or died, but a lot of the times it’s how well they do, that they got well and were able to go on with their lives,” she said.

It’s rewarding work, and it felt good to be recognized by her peers before she retires in about a year, but Patterson used her acceptance speech Thursday to thank others.

“I told them I didn’t really deserve it; everybody in that room deserved it as much as I did,” Patterson said. “It’s a blessing to work here … they’ve added to my life.”

PANAMA CITY – Leaders from the local black community spoke Sunday at a youth empowerment rally that Bay County Branch NAACP president Rufus Woods said helped turn “anger to action, and pain to power” after George Zimmerman was acquitted of murder in the slaying of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

More than 60 people attended the rally at Love Center Missionary Baptist Church, where Woods is the pastor, and discussed conflict resolution, dealing with law enforcement officials, bullying and education.

“There’s nothing wrong with anger, it’s what you do when you get angry,” Woods said. “We have to channel our anger in a positive way.”

A candlelight vigil and prayer service was later held outside the Bay County Juvenile Justice Courthouse. A photo of Martin was placed outside the courthouse for the vigil, and several attendees wore “I am Trayvon Martin” t-shirts imprinted with the slain teen’s face.

Also at the vigil, the Bay County Chapter of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition announced that several of its members will join the protestors known as the Dream Defenders in their sit-in at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee. The Dream Defenders have protested at the Capitol for six straight days, and have vowed not to leave until Governor Rick Scott convenes a special legislative session on the Stand Your Ground Law.

Sunday during the rally, Woods and other speakers were strongly critical of the self-defense law, which they believe played a part in Zimmerman’s acquittal. For some local black youths, the law has come to symbolize institutionalized prejudice, said Bay County NAACP Youth Council president Ashley Frink.

Her Bay County NAACP Youth Council colleague, Jamil Davis, shared her sentiment.

“Basically with the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial,” he said, “a lot of our youth are actually fearful of a lot of things that could possibly happen to them, particularly with them knowing this incident happened in the state we live in. And it’s the way that the entire case was handled by police, and the subsequent trial.”

But President Barack Obama’s most recent comments on Martin’s killing have cut through the confusion and anger some of those kids felt after the Zimmerman verdict, Frink said.

In a White House press conference, Obama said, “When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.”

Frink also said it was a wake-up call for some kids.

“I personally feel like it was very much needed, because a lot of things they see that go on, it takes a certain person to say it for them to be like, ‘Wow. That’s something to really take into consideration,’” she said. “When they hear a person of such high power say it, they know it’s really important.”

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Three Bay County tour boat companies are facing fines for unlawfully feeding wild dolphins in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but at least one of the companies says the charges are false.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) charged operators of the tour boat “Sea Screamer” with two counts of illegal dolphin feeding in July 2011 and August 2012, resulting in a $10,000 fine.

“We are disputing these claims,” said Capt. Andy Redmond, the owner of the Sea Screamer. “We do not feed dolphins aboard the Sea Screamer.”

Redmond added that each tour begins with a verbal admonition to passengers that it is illegal to feed or harass dolphins and that the sea creatures are fully capable of finding all the food they need. He added that charges stem from one incident in 2011 and another in 2012 and that while undercover agents from NOAA had been aboard his boat several times in the past few years, they have not seen humans feeding dolphins from the vessel.

“All we do is observe dolphins,” he added. “We do not feed dolphins.”

Also charged were AAA Jet Ski Rentals and Tours and Blue Dolphin Tours, with each company facing a $5,000 fine for illegal feedings in August of last year. Contacted by phone Sunday, a man with AAA Jet Ski Rentals said the business would not comment on its fine. The owner of Blue Dolphin Tours was unavailable for comment Sunday.

“We work very closely with the (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission), and these cases were a result of a planned working group,” said Jeff Dadonski, the acting deputy special agent in charge at NOAA’s office of law enforcement. “All of the cases were witnessed by law enforcement or other components.”

Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, it is illegal to feed, touch or pursue wild dolphins, and Bay County is a known hotspot for illegal dolphin interaction. 

The incidents happened a year or two ago, but officials said it is not unusual to take that long to conclude an investigation and file federal charges.

NOAA Fisheries bottlenose dolphin conservation coordinator Stacy Horstman said the area’s large commercial and recreational boating fleet coupled with a growing tourism industry presents a unique challenge when it comes to preventing dolphin interaction.

“Panama City is the one scientifically documented place where we know dolphins have been fed so people can get in the water and interact with them,” Horstman said. “The uniqueness about Panama City is the amount of vessels in a small area; you’ll have upwards of 25 boats encircling two dolphins and trying to interact with those dolphins.”

In an attempt to counteract the negative effects of dolphin interaction, NOAA has headed outreach programs in Bay County for more than two decades.

Horstman said outreach focuses primarily on educating the public through brochures, posted signs, workshops, billboards and on-air public service announcements. This season, the agency also has begun utilizing banner plane flyovers as a means to communicate the message.

Despite two decades of effort, Horstman said the huge influx of commercial businesses and tourism in a small geographic area has smothered any progress.

“There was a time when we were seeing improvements, but unfortunately in the last few years it’s just as bad as it’s ever been,” Horstman said. “We really need everybody’s help to keep the people and the dolphins safe.”

However, local tour businesses Osprey Charters and St. Andrew Bay Ferry have made an effort to adhere to the initiatives set forth in NOAA’s Dolphin SMART partnership, even though the program has not yet been implemented in the area.

“You can safely and responsibly view dolphin from a vessel,” Horstman said. “We know it can happen, but there are a lot of commercial and recreational boaters in the area and it’s going to take everybody to really help us solve this problem.”

PANAMA CITY BEACH - A 33 year-old man from Mexico is in critical condition at Bay Medical Sacred Heart after he fell from a second floor balcony at the Days Inn at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday night at 12818 Front Beach Road.

Panama City Beach police report the man had been climbing on the balcony. He continued to be in critical condition as of 5:26 a.m. Monday morning. Police are investigating the incident. 

Law enforcement officials from both the Franklin County sheriff’s office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are searching this afternoon for a missing oysterman.

According to Stan Kirkland, a regional spokesman with FWC, his department was notified at 8:36 a.m. Monday morning by the Franklin County sheriff’s office that an oystering vessel had overturned during bad weather in the bay on the northwest side of Bird Island, west of the St. George Island bridge.

Two people were thrown in the water after the boat capsized. Eastpoint resident Billie Murray, 18, was picked up by another boat in the vicinity, and taken to Weems Memorial Hospital. A man aboard the boat, reported by friends to be Brandon Wayne "Bruno" Creamer of Eastpoint, remains missing.

A man who witnessed the accident said Murray was able to stay afloat in the water, as Creamer clung to a pair of oyster tongs in the water. “He grabbed hold of the tongs, he held on to those, but she looked back and tried to see where he was and she couldn’t see him,” said the man.

“A sudden thunderstorm came through and it got really bad,” said an oysterman aboard one of first boats to arrive on the scene soon after the accident. “The waves picked up and water came over the side.”

An onlooker reported that four life jackets were seen floating in the area of the capsized boat.

Kirkland said that to his knowledge, Murray did not require hospitalization. “We have not had a chance to interview her, “he said. “It was rough weather, they took water over the bow and the vessel rolled and then went down.

“We don’t know the age of the vessel, we were told it was a mullet type skiff even though they were apparently oystering,” Kirkland said. “It was apparently an older vessel. I don’t know if it was wooden, fiberglass but it is on the bottom.

“They have located the vessel, they’ve buoyed that vessel and there are some other vessels, six or seven, of fishermen that are helping in the search,” he said.

A man involved in the rescue said a shrimp boat was dragging for him. “We tried to look for a while but you can’t even see,” he said.

In addition to FWC watercraft, the sheriff’s office has two vessels in the search, together with one from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. An FWC helicopter has assisted, depending on a break in the pelting rain that has raged intermittently all day.

The search “is basically from the site of the vessel out considerably from the vessel, to see if they can locate this missing person. Anywhere from a half mile or further,” Kirkland said.

He said the bay was open for harvesting this morning. “Unless there is a closure that applies to oystering, they can oyster as they see fit,” he said. “I would leave it up to fishermen about that. Everybody should pay attention to the weather.”

PANAMA CITY — An airman stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base has been arrested and jailed after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges stemming from his alleged possession and distribution of child pornography.

Daniel Freiwald pleaded not guilty during his initial court appearance to a three-count indictment charging him with knowingly receiving, possessing and distributing child porn between Dec. 7, 2012, and Jan. 23, 2013, according to a news release.

The indictment was announced Monday, but the grand jury handed down its indictment last week and a judge ordered it sealed until an arrest warrant for Freiwald could be executed. According to court records, prosecutors and law enforcement did not know where Freiwald was when he was indicted and asked the judge to seal it so he would not know he was wanted.

The indictment has been unsealed, but it reveals no specific details on the crimes for which Freiwald is accused. The indictment seeks forfeiture of any equipment he used to commit the alleged crimes and mentions computer equipment specifically.

Freiwald, 29, is a staff sergeant weapons evaluator with the 83rd Fighter Weapons Squadron at Tyndall, according to spokeswoman Lt. Andrea Valencia.

If  convicted of the first two counts in the indictment, Freiwald faces between five and 20 years in prison, and the third count carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. Each count carries a potential fine of up to $250,000 and a period of supervised release of at least five years and up to the rest of his life.

His trial been scheduled for Sept. 23.

WG

HED: Oysterman missing; 1 rescued

By DAVID ADLERSTEIN

653-8894 | @ApalachTimes

APALACHICOLA — One person was rescued but another is missing after an oystering vessel overturned in bad weather Monday.

Law enforcement officials from both the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) were searching Monday afternoon for the missing oysterman.

The FWC was notified at 8:36 a.m. EDT Monday that an oystering vessel had overturned during bad weather in the bay on the northwest side of Bird Island, west of the St. George Island bridge, according to FWC regional spokesman Stan Kirkland.

Two people were thrown in the water after the boat capsized. Eastpoint resident Billie Murray, 18, was picked up by another boat in the vicinity and taken to Weems Memorial Hospital. A man aboard the boat, reported by friends to be Brandon Wayne “Bruno” Creamer of Eastpoint, remained missing late Monday.

A man who witnessed the accident said Murray was able to stay afloat in the water, as Creamer clung to a pair of oyster tongs in the water.

“He grabbed hold of the tongs, he held on to those, but she looked back and tried to see where he was and she couldn’t see him,” said the man, who didn’t provide his name.

An oysterman aboard one of the first boats to arrive on scene after the accident said a “sudden thunderstorm … got really bad,” and the “waves picked up and water came over the side” of the boat.

Murray did not require hospitalization, Kirkland said. “We have not had a chance to interview her,” he said. “It was rough weather; they took water over the bow and the vessel rolled and then went down.

“We don’t know the age of the vessel. We were told it was a mullet type skiff even though they were apparently oystering,” Kirkland said. “It was apparently an older vessel. I don’t know if it was wooden, fiberglass, but it is on the bottom.

“They have located the vessel, they’ve buoyed that vessel and there are some other vessels, six or seven, of fishermen that are helping in the search,” he said.

In addition to FWC watercraft, the sheriff’s office has two vessels in the search, together with one from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. An FWC helicopter has assisted, depending on a break in the pelting rain that has raged intermittently all day.

The search “is basically from the site of the vessel out considerably from the vessel, to see if they can locate this missing person. Anywhere from a half-mile or further,” Kirkland said.

Kirkland said the bay was open for harvesting.

“Unless there is a closure that applies to oystering, they can oyster as they see fit,” he said Monday. “I would leave it up to fishermen about that. Everybody should pay attention to the weather.”  

APALACHICOLA - The body of an oysterman was recovered this afternoon in Apalachicola Bay about a mile east from where his small boat went down Monday morning in a thunderstorm.

Capt. Chester Creamer, with the Franklin County Sheriff’s office, said a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission helicopter spotted the body about 2:30 p.m.

Law enforcement officials aboard the sheriff’s watercraft, and one from the Wewahitchka Search and Rescue Team., retrieved the body from the body.

The man was identified as Brandon Wayne "Bruno" Creamer, 21, of Eastpoint. Distraught family members were on the shoreline, awaiting the news they expected would be grim.

Oystermen, together with law enforcement vessels, scoured the area on the northwest side of Bird Island, west of the St. George Island bridge, where an oystering vessel sank with two aboard in bad weather at about 8 a.m. Monday.

Eastpoint resident Billie Murray, 18, was picked up within minutes by another boat in the vicinity, and she was taken to Weems Memorial Hospital, treated and released. A sheriff’s deputy on the bridge at the time of the mishap said Brandon Creamer clung to oyster tongs for a time, before the swift current pulled him beneath the waves.

Shrimp boats worked Monday night dragging the sea floor, and nine divers from an interagency FWC team worked this morning in the area near where Creamer had gone in.

SOUTHPORT - An 85-year-old Southport man died Tuesday after a crash on a motor-powered bicycle, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Linwood Railey Shiflett was cruising on 4th Street near 4th Circle in Southport when his motorbike crashed and he spilled into the road. First responders arrived and pronounced him dead at the scene, and the Medical Examiners Office took custody of his body.

The crash was not alcohol related, troopers wrote in a news release. Shiflett was not wearing a helmet, they added.

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- The father of a northeastern Indiana teenager recovering from a Panama City Beach parasailing crash says she's reached another milestone.

Eric Good of Roanoke said Tuesday that his 17-year-old daughter, Sidney, was released from Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and transferred to a rehabilitation hospital.

Sidney Good and 17-year-old Alexis Fairchild of Huntington were hurt July 1 after a rope tethering them to a boat snapped and strong winds slammed them into a condominium building, a power line and a parked car at Panama City Beach. Both now are in rehab centers.

Sidney Good had surgery last week to repair facial fractures and to replace a bone flap from an earlier surgery in Florida.

In a preliminary report, the Coast Guard said severe weather and the boat's proximity to shore were major factors in the accident.

Police investigating the death of a person whose body was discovered hanging from a fence near the interstate Wednesday morning believe the person was reported missing in March.

Police have not identified the person whose decomposed remains were discovered Wednesday, but Marianna Police Chief Hayes Baggett believes it is a woman from Bascom reported missing to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office earlier this year.

“We think we know who it is,” Baggett said.

Baggett said the body was badly decomposed and police will wait until the identity of the person has been confirmed by the Medical Examiner’s office before the person is identified. Baggett said he didn’t know how the person died. A pill bottle was found at the scene.

“I can’t say foul play is involved and I can’t say it’s not,” he said.

According to a Sheriff’s Office report, the missing woman got out of her vehicle and disappeared near the area of I-10 and Pennsylvania Avenue, leaving her husband behind in the vehicle. Her husband reported her missing.

The body was discovered in the same vicinity by subcontractors who were spraying foliage, Baggett said.

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE -- The self-destruct device from the drone that crashed July 17 was destroyed by the explosive ordnance disposal personnel on Wednesday, according to Herman Bell, chief of Tyndall’s 325th Fighter Wing public affairs.

Bell said U.S. 98 was closed for about 30 minutes during the noon lunch hour as the disposal unit dealt with the device.

He said Tyndall officials followed standard procedures for destroying this device, and there was no danger to the public.

The 30,000 pound aircraft, referred to in military circles as a QF-4 drone, was a converted Phantom jet. The device used to destroy the drone in case of an emergency was not located at the time of the crash.

PANAMA CITY — After five years living near train tracks on East Seventh Street, Eric Geraci has grown accustomed to the sound of trains passing, but there was something different about the one that passed Wednesday morning.

It felt and sounded like an earthquake, and it shook stuff out of his pantry, Geraci said.

Eight cars on a Bay Line train passing through Kraft Avenue between East Seventh Street and East Eighth Street derailed around 11 a.m., according to Chuck Dianis with Genessee & Wyoming Inc., the company that owns and operates the Bay Line Railroad. The Bay Line is a 103-mile line that carries commodities between Panama City and Alabama.

Nobody was injured by the derailment, which left the eight cars and their cargo of pine chips tilted but upright and stranded across Kraft Avenue, effectively blocking the roadway while a crew traveled from Georgia to literally get the train back on track. The engine and other unaffected cars had been moved from the area Wednesday afternoon.

Workers arrived at the scene late Wednesday, but it was unknown how long the process of righting the cars would take.

It was not clear how the train got off the track. Geraci thought it might have been caused by shifting soils due to recent rains.

“The track just kind of buckled,” he said. “I don’t know if it was the rain or what.”

PANAMA CITY — A fire in a Panama City mobile home park Wednesday night killed a man and a dog, a fire official said.

Four units with the Panama City Fire Department responded to a call at 11:32 p.m. Wednesday at 1320 Buena Vista Blvd. Three people were asleep inside the home when it was reported, but two had escaped the blaze by the time fire crews arrived three or four minutes later, Assistant Fire Chief Byron Bennett said Thursday.

The victim is 39-year-old Sean McDuffie. A small dog also died in the fire, Bennett said.

A Fire Department press release said the fire has been ruled accidental and the cause was unattended food left cooking on a stove. Investigators with the State Fire Marshal’s Office worked with the Fire Department to determine the cause.

The medical examiner has determined the cause of death to be smoke inhalation, the release said.

Panama City Police also are investigating the death and the fire, but foul play is not suspected, said PCPD spokesman Lt. Robert Luther.

Neighbors said another man who escaped the fire returned Thursday to try and salvage some clothes from the home. The man, whom they knew as Chris, was still shaken up, neighbor Ann Hogya said. She and her daughter gave him some clothes.

MARIANNA - A Marianna man was killed in a single vehicle crash Wednesday night, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Michael N. Stripling, 55, was driving a 1996 Chevrolet Lumina north on State 71 near the Calhoun County line at about 9:45 p.m. when he lost control of the vehicle, troopers wrote in a news release. The vehicle left the roadway and collided first with a utility pole and then with two trees, they added.

Stripling was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead, officials wrote.  

SPRINGFIELD — Police arrested former Springfield City Clerk Anne Andrews on felony charges of fraudulent use of a credit card and grand theft Thursday afternoon.

According to police reports, Andrews, while employed by the city, made multiple personal purchases with a city-issued credit card without the consent or permission of the city. During the course of a financial audit, officials allegedly discovered Andrews made purchases totaling $1,456.59 from T-Mobile, Hammacher Schlemmer, Sears.com and Knology between the months of January and March 2012.

Police said, as city clerk, Andrews was the sole receiver of all bills for the city, made monthly payments and any fraudulent use or discrepancies of the city credit cards would have been detected only by Andrews.

Andrews was fired July 11 on the grounds of misusing a city-issued credit card and falsifying documents.

Former code enforcement officer Lee Penton replaced Andrews as city clerk as the Springfield Police Department conducted an investigation.

Mayor Ralph Hammond released a statement Thursday in which he touted the arrest as fulfillment of a campaign promise for “transparency in this government.”

“Since my term began, we have discovered bills unpaid; bills paid late, checks signed but never sent, and several unauthorized credit card purchases by Mrs. Anne Andrews … that appear to be for her personal benefit,” Hammond wrote. “Obviously, this does not help the financial health of the city; however, I can assure you all necessary steps are being taken to address these issues and I promise to continue to keep our citizens informed.”

Police claimed Andrews’ actions were willful, with the intent to defraud the city by making purchases of $100 or more and doing so more than two times within six months.

Andrews was released on bond in the amount of $3,000 at about 4 p.m. Thursday, according to her legal counsel Waylon Graham. Andrews deferred any questions to Graham, who, as of Thursday evening, said he did not know enough about the case to comment.

Hammond said Andrews performed the duties of finance director, city clerk and human resources director for about five years before being fired in July. Her salary was $40,000 a year at the time, according to Hammond.

Read an earlier version of this story

PANAMA CITY — The defendants charged with mutilating and killing a 90-year-old Lynn Haven man cased his house after they were put up to it by a woman who wanted to inherit his property, according to one of the defendants’ cellmates.

According to court records, Ashley Griffin, one of five people arrested in connection to the killing of Wallace Scott in April, discussed her role in the homicide to a cellmate at the Bay County Jail.

Griffin is charged with first-degree murder, along with Kevin Jeffries and David Challender. Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty against Jeffries and Challender but not against Griffin, who helped lead police to the other suspects.

Griffin has written letters to the judge presiding in her case insisting she was not involved, but a woman who spent time with her in jail has told deputies with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office that Griffin was not only involved in the killing but in the planning, as well.

The woman told investigators that Griffin confided in her on multiple occasions about the crime and the planning that went into it.

According to a transcript of the woman’s statement:

Sherri Mercer, a woman who worked for Scott as a caregiver, met with Griffin and Jeffries in Dothan, Ala., and they rode back to Bay County together. During the drive, Mercer used Scott’s credit card to pay for gas, and that brought up the topic of Scott’s will.

Mercer was a beneficiary and they discussed killing him so she could inherit money and property, which the conspirators would split. They committed the crime April 4 because Mercer had learned of Scott’s plans to remove her as a beneficiary from the will a few days later.

They drove from Dothan to Scott’s house that night to get cash from Scott to buy drugs. Jeffries discussed with Scott a need to repair a vehicle as a pretext to go inside the home and learn the layout and easiest ways to break in later.

At some point during the planning, Mercer said she wanted them to mutilate Scott’s genitals. Griffin, during the break-in, attempted to follow through with Mercer’s requests using scissors, but she was unable to finish.

Griffin was the one who tied Scott up during the break-in, and she was the one who would beat Scott when he refused Challender’s and Jeffries’ repeated demands for Scott’s bank account PINs. Griffin held a gun in Scott’s mouth and stabbed something through his leg.

Mercer and Deborah Cupp, another of Scott’s caregivers, also were arrested and charged with fraud after Scott was killed. The charges against Cupp were dropped last week, and Mercer pleaded no contest to grand theft and was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

PANAMA CITY — A murder suspect’s attorney questioned Bay County Sheriff’s deputies during a hearing Friday about what she called “sloppy” work during a murder investigation.

Kim Dowgul filed a motion on behalf of Philip Brock, who’s accused off killing Terry Brazil in December, arguing the judge should throw out evidence and statements Brock made before he was arrested because he was denied a lawyer.

According to Dowgul’s motion, Brock told her Capt. Jimmy Stanford hit him during portions of the interview that were not recorded, even though the interview took place in an interview room equipped with functioning recording equipment.

Stanford and other law enforcement officers who witnessed the unrecorded interview said that never happened. Dowgul asked why investigators didn’t record the interview.

“That is the way we conduct business,” Stanford said.

Stanford seemed insulted by the implication that investigators would misrepresent a defendant’s statement, but Dowgul argued that not having a recording of a suspect’s entire interview puts too much trust on the word of investigators.

“When the stakes are this high, and the work is this sloppy, I can’t wrap my head around it,” Dowgul said.

Prosecutor Larry Basford called several law enforcement witnesses to rebut the allegations in Dowgul’s motion. They said their dealings with Brock were cordial and friendly, and though they secured warrants, Brock had given his consent to search his property and take his DNA.

“There’s no evidence before the court that those statements were not freely and voluntarily given,” Basford told the judge.

Investigators filed a third search warrant in June after Dowgul filed her motion, which caused Dowgul concern, she said. The investigator took responsibility for failing to file it.

“She didn’t have the third warrant because I didn’t have it,” Basford said. “That’s the reason we have discovery, to hash out this.”

Dowgul acknowledged that she has brought up the issue of unrecorded interviews in the past, but she said this case was as frustrating as any she had ever worked.

“I don’t know that we can trust any of this. I certainly don’t,” Dowgul argued to Judge Brantley Clark, who didn’t rule on Dowgul’s motion Friday. “We’re being denied the best evidence in these cases.”

Basford and Dowgul plan to depose the judge who signed the warrants before Clark rules on the motion. Brock is scheduled for trial in September.

PARKER — Sgt. John Murnan was at Under the Oaks Park in Parker last weekend, enjoying a birthday party with his son, daughter-in-law and their children.

The party was going swimmingly when the off-duty Gulf County Sheriff’s Office deputy heard shouting from across the park.

“We were just hanging out and someone started shouting ‘help, help, call 9-1-1’,” Murnan said. “Of course I am going to respond, somebody calling for 9-1-1, I had to find out what was going on.”

A teenager came sprinting, cradling a small boy – turned out he was 4 years old – in his arms.

The young child was not breathing and was in clear distress, Murnan said.

“He was as blue as blue can be,” Murnan said. “He was, when I got him, I guess, gone.”

Murnan scooped up the young boy. Murnan believed he recognized the brother, who called the boy “Angel” and who willingly turned the boy over to Murnan’s care.

“He just said, ‘Look, help my brother,’ ” Murnan said.

Murnan put the boy in a modified Heimlich, arm across his abdomen, the boy’s head down, and did five thrusts.

After several thrusts the boy began to spit up wood debris used on the park walkways and began to breathe. 

Murnan rolled him over and continued with one or two more compressions.

The boy went into a bit of a seizure – “Your brain basically rebooting itself,” Murnan said – and began to breathe on his own and gain his color back as the ambulance arrived.

Murnan?

“I just kind of went back to the party,” he said with a chuckle. “I don’t want to sound callous, but I didn’t think any more about it.

“That is what we are trained to do.”

All of this might not have ended up in the newspaper if not for a Port St. Joe resident, Mary Williams, who happened to be at Under the Oaks last Saturday.

She witnessed the entire episode, including Murnan’s life-saving response.

She emailed hoping to locate the deputy.

“It amazed and touched a lot of people there,” Williams wrote after detailing Murnan’s actions followed by his return to his party. “I think he should be recognized for saving that little boy. We didn’t get his name but someone recognized him as a Gulf County deputy.

“I hope you can find out so we all can know and thank him.”

Murnan had forgotten all about the incident when informed by his supervisor that the newspaper was trying to locate him.

“He is a fine man and was just promoted to sergeant,” said Gulf County Sheriff Mike Harrison.

When the email was read to Murnan to explain tracking him down, he said he was just doing what his many years in law enforcement – with Mexico Beach and Gulf County - had taught him.

To have someone recognize it, though, was not so bad.

“That is pretty cool,” Murnan said of Williams’ email.

Information about the boy’s condition was not known, though there were no reports of deaths or serious injuries that day in those circumstances.

Murnan said the last he saw the boy called Angel he was doing fine and being attended to by EMS personnel. He was not even sure the boy was transported from the park by ambulance.