As plans get underway for a candlelight vigil Thursday for Nicholas Presha and Jeremy Stewart, the Winter Park High School students burnt to death near Cady Way Trail, there are reports that the killings may be connected to an unpaid $500 drug debt.
Presha, 16, and Stewart, 18, were found by a passer-by who reported the burning of the bodies in a desolate area of Cady Way Trail.
The 911 call made to alert on the emergency makes clear the confusion on the part of the caller.
“I can’t tell if there are two mannequins or two people burning,” the caller replies in response to the dispatcher inquiring as to the emergency.
There are news reports that the teens were murdered execution-style; the boys were bound and gagged, then shot in the back.
According to sources, the killing of Presha and Stewart is linked to an unpaid $500 drug debt involving marijuana.
On Thursday, Winter Park High School canceled FCAT tests as students continue to be emotional over the senseless killing of their colleagues.
Presha’s father is a retired captain of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Presha and Stewart both had prior brushes with law enforcement.
Captain Angela Nieves of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said the killings of the teens appeared to be an isolated incident and urged anyone with information to come forward.
Investigators believe a fire at the nearby Sun Bay apartment complex not from from Cady Way Trail, is connected to the killings—possibly the killer(s) trying to dispose of evidence.
The candlelight vigil for Presha and Stewart will commence at 7:00 p.m. at Cady Way Trail by the wooden bridge. For more information on the candlelight vigil call: 407-618-6337.
My soul aches to know that there are some among us who feel such little regard for human life. What an awful state of the soul to be in to know such little love. I pity you who whoever you are, who committed such a loveless act,for you must not know any love.