Person of interest, boyfriend of missing Brooksville park ranger located
BROOKSVILLE (FOX 13) - A person of interest in the case of a missing Florida Forest Service ranger from Brooksville has been taken into custody, but the woman is still missing.
Jeffrey Morrison, who is also the boyfriend of the missing woman, 43-year-old Mitzi Babb, was arrested Thursday night at the White Plains Agricultural Weigh Station along Interstate 75 in Hamilton County, which is just south of the Georgia border.
As of Friday morning, Morrison was being held in the county for arrest warrants out of Georgia for armed residential burglary and attempted arson. Hernando County deputies say they working with law enforcement in Hamilton County and Georgia.
Deputies named Morrison as a person of interest on Thursday. Babb was last seen at her job on Tuesday around 5 p.m. Deputies and FDLE officers said they searched the woods off Croom Road, and sent a dive team into a body of water searching for her. They said the last person she was known to be with was Morrison.
Deputies haven’t said publicly why they believe Babb was in danger, but that her relationship with Morrison has been bumpy. They also said they don't think she simply packed up and left.
"We all have ups and downs. She is one of the most beautiful people I have ever known, and we have to find her," said her sister-in-law, Angela Cormier.
Babb has a college-age daughter. She lost her husband in a house fire eight years ago. She has been a park ranger for seven years.
The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information to call them at (352) 754-6830 or send an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers at 1-866-990-8477.