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Kids find human skeletal remains while playing in abandoned home, Florida cops say
Kids were playing in an abandoned house when they ended up making a gruesome discovery, Florida authorities said. The afternoon of July 11, the children discovered human skeletal remains inside the Avon Park home, the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release later that day. They went...
Cultivating Change
New Highlands County Extension Agent Ready to Take on the Challenges. Ranking second in the state for dairy and beef cattle and third for citrus production, Highlands County has always been a hub for agriculture. Now there’s a new face in town ready to help county farmers make an even...
'What he deserves, five times over': Jury recommends death for man who killed 5 women 'execution-style' at Florida bank
A jury recommended the death penalty for a man who shot five women "execution-style" at a bank in Florida. The post ‘What he deserves, five times over’: Jury recommends death for man who killed 5 women ‘execution-style’ at Florida bank first appeared on Law & Crime.
Jury recommends death penalty for gunman who murdered 5 women inside Florida bank
A jury recommended Wednesday that a former prison guard trainee be sentenced to death for his execution-style murders of five women inside a Florida bank five years ago. The Highlands County jury voted 9-3 to recommend that Zephen Xaver receive the death penalty for the Jan. 23, 2019, massacre at the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, a community about 85 miles (135 kilometers) southeast of Tampa.
Jury says Zephen Xaver should die for killing 5 women execution-style at Sebring bank
A jury in Highlands County recommended the death penalty by a 9-3 vote on Wednesday for Zephen Xaver, who gunned down five people in a Sebring bank in 2019, according to WFLA news channel 8 in Tampa. Last year, Xaver pleaded guilty to killing Ana Piñon Williams, Debra Cook, Marisol Lopez, Cynthia Watson...
Jury recommends death penalty for Sebring bank shooter
SEBRING, Fla. — A Highlands County jury recommended the death penalty for Zephen Xaver in the case of the shooting deaths of five people inside a Suntrust Bank in 2019. The death penalty verdicts were not unanimous. The state of Florida changed the death penalty law to only require 8 out of 12 jurors to recommend death for the penalty to be imposed. The change came after the shooter in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre was sentenced to life in prison.
Death Penalty Recommended for Former Guard Trainee Who Killed 5 in Florida Bank
A jury on Wednesday recommended that a former prison guard trainee be executed for killing five women inside a bank in Florida five years prior, carrying out his long-standing wish to kill. In a 9-3 decision, the jurors recommended that Zephen Xaver be executed for the killings that occurred on...
Filling a Conservation Gap
The 1,285-acre Lightsey Family Ranch in Highlands County, considered one of the most vital “missing links” in the Florida Wildlife Corridor, is going to be preserved forever thanks to a conservation easement. The agreement means the ranch located along Fisheating Creek will continue to operate, but the land will not be developed in perpetuity. The ranch was one of the last remaining links that were needed in the region just north of the Everglades. The property, which includes 850 acres of uplands and 435 acres of wetlands, is home to the threatened Sandhill crane as well as alligators, gopher tortoises and wild turkeys. “This land will always stay green and furthers our work to connect a functional Florida Wildlife Corridor,” says Conservation Florida CEO and President Traci Deen.
Infant Died after Mom High on Drugs Rolled Over Him in Sleep; Authorities Charged 2 Women in Florida
The Highlands County Sheriff’s Office has charged two ladies in relation to the death of an infant in Avon Park. Sabrina Denise Watson, 28, the mother of the baby, and Gwendolyn L. Wyche, 49, the cousin of Watson and the legal guardian of the kid, were accused after the girl’s death on May 4.
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