A 73-year-old man was found beaten to death Monday night in his house on Jarecki Avenue in Holly Hill and police arrested the victim’s son Tuesday. The motivation in the case, police said, was money for drugs.
Police have described 28-year-old Juan Reid as someone with a “raging” drug habit, so intense he was willing to kill his father using a chisel and a candlestick.
Juan wore an orange jumpsuit on his way from the police department to the jail Tuesday. Police took his clothes to collect blood evidence from the brutal murder of his own father.
James Reid, 73, was found dead in the bedroom of his Holly Hill home, allegedly hit by his son nearly 70 times.
“If someone would do this to his own father, he’ll do this to my father, anybody else’s father or anybody else period. He needs to be gone, man, and he’s not going to change,” neighbor Dan Hodges said.
Neighbors said Juan had been stealing things from the neighborhood to support his drug habit for years. Monday night, a family member came to check on James and found his body.
Police said evidence pointed immediately to Juan. He evaded them through the night, but was arrested at a homeless center just before noon Tuesday.
“He’s a long time resident here, a fixture in that neighborhood. We are outraged and our community is shocked by what has occurred,” Holly Hill Police Chief Mark Barker said.
Police called it one of the most brutal crimes they had ever seen and Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators carried out bags of evidence. The victim was well-known in the neighborhood and residents said he did everything he could to help his son.
“I know for a fact he never hurt anybody. He’s a gentle old man. He just made a little side money selling lawn mowers that he’d fix up, you know?” neighbor Patrick Monroe said.
Police said the murder was something Juan planned to do. It’s the first murder in Holly Hill in two years.
Source: wftv.com
