A Central Florida man was indicted for murder in a previous cold case.
The Brevard County grand jury indicted 19-year-old Tavery U. Houston on one count of first-degree premeditated murder and one count of burglary of a dwelling for shooting 58-year-old Franklin Orwig in the victim’s home the night of August 11, 2023.
The Sharpes-area man was indicted for the 2023 shooting death of the family acquaintance and landlord in a dispute over money, a case that went cold for years according to law enforcement.
A neighbor who heard shots that evening called 911 and reported seeing a masked man run from the property on Burgess Avenue. Orwig was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Starting with an anonymous tip in 2024, Brevard County Sheriff’s investigators identified the prime suspect as a young man known as “Cookie” – Tavery Houston’s nickname among friends and family.
Further investigation led sheriff’s agents to locate Houston at a mobile home west of Cocoa and bring him in for questioning.
Tavery Houston confessed to shooting Franklin Orwig, telling agents he did so because Orwig had threatened to kill him for spending his mother’s rent money, which she owed to Orwig.
