FL- Palatka pair found slain

Posted in Related Deaths

7-28-2007 Florida:
A man and woman were found dead Friday in a mobile home outside Palatka in what authorities say appears to be a double homicide.

The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office identified the victims as 36-year-old Terrance Eugene McCloud and 30-year-old Carley Ann Collum. Investigators don’t yet know when they died or how they were killed.

Friday night, investigators believed it was not a murder-suicide, said Maj. Gary Bowling, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.

Worried co-workers of Collum, who was employed at the PRC call center in Palatka, led to the grisly discovery shortly after noon.

During their lunch break, the co-workers went to Collum’s home in the Silver Lake Oaks Mobile Home Park and became concerned when they saw her car parked outside and got no response at the door.

The park’s manager then opened the mobile home and discovered McCloud’s body inside.

Collum also missed work on Thursday. That prompted a welfare check call to deputies, who went to the home and saw nothing unusual from the outside, Bowling said.

Investigators confirmed Collum was alive late Wednesday and early Thursday.

The mobile home is in Lot 43, next to a vacant lot where four cars were parked.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators spent Friday afternoon taking photographs and collecting evidence. Yellow crime scene tape kept neighbors from getting close.

Family members of both McCloud and Collum were called by police to the area, but knew little more than investigators.

“I don’t know anything,” said Carmelia Mauesby, McCloud’s aunt. “It’s a total shock. There were no problems. He was always a happy person. He didn’t bother nobody at all.”

Mauesby was called by her daughter, who lives across the street from McCloud.

The last time she said she had spoken with him was last week, she said.

“Whatever happened, they need to get to the bottom of it, because he doesn’t bother anybody,” Mauesby said. “It’s just not good for the family at all.”

Mauesby said that McCloud’s grandmother, the woman who raised him, was seriously ill and may not live long. His grandmother last spoke with him on Wednesday, she said.

Family members said McCloud worked at Matthews Moving and Storage, where he had been employed for more than 10 years. He had lived at the Silver Lake Drive residence a couple of months, they said.

Collum is the second PRC employee slain this month.

On July 6, Stephen Richardson was found stabbed to death in his Palatka apartment. No arrests have been in his death and a $2,000 reward is being offered for information.

As of Friday night, authorities had no link between the two slayings, Bowling said.

The state Department of Corrections shows McCloud was convicted in 1997 of sexual battery without injury and lewd and lascivious conduct on a child younger than 16. He is listed as a sexual offender on the FDLE Web site. His offender status and his new address at Silver Lake Drive were updated Thursday, the site says.

There is no indication McCloud’s slaying was linked to his sex-offender record, Bowling said.

McCloud also was on probation for felony driving with a suspended license, according to the Department of Corrections. ..more.. by Larry Sullivan and Ron Bartlett

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Leads sought as police probe double slaying
7-31-2007 Florida
Two people found dead in a local mobile home park last week were beaten to death, authorities say.

The bodies of Terrance Eugene McCloud and Karley Ann Collum were found discovered Friday morning off Silver Lake Road near Palatka.

Based on autopsies, medical examiners ruled McCloud, 36, and Collum, 30, died from blunt force trauma to the head, said Maj. Keith Riddick, chief of detectives and a spokesman for the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.

Crime scene specialists worked through the weekend inside the trailer in Lot 43 at the Silver Lake Oaks Mobile Home Park

No arrests have been made, but investigators are following up on leads, Riddick said in an interview Monday.

Information from the public is welcome, Riddick added.

“If anyone heard anything or saw anything that would be helpful in solving these deaths, we’d love to have it,” he said.

Investigators have confirmed Collum was alive late Wednesday night, when she told a friend she was going out with McCloud.

A neighbor heard a woman scream from McCloud’s home about 5 a.m. Thursday, but Riddick said authorities were not called.

Investigators say McCloud may have known his attacker since there were no signs of forced entry of the home, Riddick said.

A friend and co-worker described Collum, a resident of Interlachen since November, as energetic and straight-forward.

“She was unique,” Heather Kaminsky said. “Just like the way she spelled her name.”

Kaminsky worked with Collum at the PRC call center in Palatka, where they met while attending a training class and quickly became close friends.

“She was like a sister,” Kaminsky said.

Kaminsky said she feared something was wrong when Collum didn’t show up for work Thursday and Friday without calling in. She and other co-workers convinced the mobile home park manager to open McCloud’s home on Friday. They were fearful because Collum’s car was parked outside the trailer but Collum didn’t answer her cell phone.

“It just wasn’t right,” Kaminsky said. “I knew something was wrong,”

McCloud was found in the kitchen and Collum, the mother of a 9-year-old boy, was dead in the hallway.

Collum’s son was with a babysitter Wednesday night. Riddick said the child has since been placed in the care of relatives in Texas.

Collum met McCloud about two weeks before they were killed, Kaminsky said.

“They were hanging out,” she said. “They weren’t dating.”

Family members said McCloud worked at Matthews Moving and Storage, where he had been employed for more than 10 years. He had lived at the Silver Lake Drive residence a couple of months, they said.

“He didn’t bother nobody or nothing,” his aunt, Carmelia Mauesby, said Monday.

“He was a loving person. Everybody enjoyed being with him.”

A report in Saturday’s paper that McCloud’s grandmother was gravely ill was incorrect, Mauesby also said.

Collum is the second PRC employee slain this month.

On July 6, Stephen Richardson was found stabbed to death in his Palatka apartment. No arrests have been in his death and a $2,000 reward is being offered for information.

There is no indication the slayings are related, Riddick said.

McCloud was convicted in 1997 of sexual battery without injury and lewd and lascivious conduct on a child younger than 16, according to the state Department of Corrections. His Silver Lake address was updated Thursday on the state’s sex-offender Web site.

Authorities also say there was no indication McCloud’s slaying was linked to his sex-offender record. ..more.. by Larry Sullivan