Florida man beat, stabbed retired nurse to death with wine bottle & knife after being kicked out: PCSO
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said a 19-year-old man stabbed a 67-year-old retired nurse to death because he had been kicked out of the house and wanted to stay near his girlfriend.
What we know:
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, a neighbor in the Polo Park community called the sheriff’s office because he hadn’t seen his friend, 67-year-old John Torneo in a few days.
The caller also said that in September, Torneo allowed 19-year-old Julian Trevino to move in with him.
Last Wednesday, according to the neighbor, Torneo made the 19-year-old leave because he wasn’t paying the rent or helping around the house.
A deputy arrived and the neighbor, who had a key to the house, went inside while the deputy stayed outside working on the computer working with a real-time crime center.
The deputy, using the real-time crime center, discovered that the victim’s vehicle was traveling south on Highway 27.
The deputy thought the victim just wasn’t home.
The neighbor who went inside the home said the victim wasn’t inside the home.
The deputy cleared the call and the neighbor went home.
The neighbor kept texting his friend throughout the day, but he wouldn’t respond.
The neighbor was concerned, so he and a few other neighbors went back inside the home. There was one bedroom that was locked, so they took a screwdriver and took the lock off the door.
When the neighbors went inside, Judd said they found Toreno dead and disemboweled inside.
The neighbors called the sheriff’s office and deputies went back to the home.
Dig deeper:
Judd said the deputy needs more training and has been taken out of patrol.
"She did just enough, but she did not go above and beyond. Had she gone above and beyond. Had she walked around the perimeter of the house, she would have seen a screen off of the bathroom door. Excuse me, the bathroom window. At the end of the day, it didn’t make any difference. Our victim, John, had been deceased for hours and hours."
The victim was severely cut in the stomach and had been hit in the head, according to Judd.
Deputies discovered that Trevino had used the victim’s credit cards.
"He had used the victim’s credit card at the pizza restaurant that he worked at as a dishwasher," Judd shared. "I got to tell you, Helen Keller could have followed the leads this guy left. This is what we call a slow-pitch criminal investigation."
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Deputies found the victim’s car and kept an eye on it.
Around 4 a.m. on Monday, detectives saw Trevino go into the victim’s vehicle and tried to take him into custody.
He drove away from the deputies.
"In his urge to get away from us, he ran into a ditch, crashed the car, jumped out and ran on foot," Judd said.
Homicide detectives ran him down and arrested him.
Judd said Trevino confessed upon arrest.
What they're saying:
"This is what he told us. ‘I was really angry when he put me out of the house and now, I’m having to live in a shed by a friend’s house. I didn’t want to go away from my girlfriend.’ He never left the vicinity from where he committed the murder. So, about 3-4 a.m. on Sunday, he goes back to John’s house and he breaks in. He breaks into the bathroom window and hides in the closet. When he hears our victim, John, settle in for the night, then he goes to stealing cash, credit cards and what happens then – our victim wakes up. He sees Julian. He knows who he is because he’s lived with him since September. Our victim confronts Julian and says, ‘You’re not supposed to be here.’ At that point in time, our suspect told us, I shoved John down on the bed and ran to the kitchen and retrieved a knife, a butcher knife. I ran back to the bedroom, and I stabbed him and I cut him. He eviscerated him. Then he took a wine bottle. John keeps a wine cooler in his bedroom…and beat him in the head with it until he was dead. Then he took the wine bottle and the knife, left the neighborhood. He had to walk across the street, between some mobile homes, it’s still dark, about 4 o’clock Sunday morning era and through the knife and the wine bottle into the creek. He told us he did that and we were able to go back and recover both of them."
Afterward, Judd said Trevino drove around in the victim’s vehicle, using his credit cards, spending his cash.
"Sometimes when you are nice to evil people, they kill you," Judd said. "Here’s what’s difficult to understand. John thought he was helping a kid who was homeless. Julian Trevino did not have a criminal record. John, who was a retired nurse and helped so many people along life’s way and was a great neighbor, did not have a criminal record."
Another neighbor went to John’s house to give him holiday treats and help celebrate the Christmas season.
"It’s sad. It’s real sad," Judd shared.
What we don't know:
It is unclear how Torneo and Trevino met.
The Source: Information for this story comes from a Grady Judd press conference that was held on Tuesday morning.