Crime

Requests for details from Daytona cops by Internet newspaper go unanswered 

DAYTONA BEACH -- Daytona Beach police responded to a report of a possible explosive device that turned out to be a toy hand grenade tied to a utility poll across the street from the Star Family Shelter in the 600 block of North Segrave St. that had caused traffic tied-ups just after 11 p.m. Thursday, according to a story in the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

The story indicated the device was destroyed by the Sheriff's Bom squad. Calls by Headline Surfer to the DBPD's office public information office as well as e-mail messages went unanswered.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- No arrests have been made in two separate gunshot slayings in the city since the weekend, though Police Chief Michael Chitwood indicated to other local media outlets his officers have identified a person of interest in the second slaying.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A 23-year-old man was shot to death in the 600 block of Verdell Street near South Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at 6:49 p.m. Saturday, according to a story published in the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Headline Surfer was unable to reach anyone in the Daytona Beach Police Department to provide information about the shooting.

Prosecutor: Bullet remains lodged in victim's liver nearly 18 months later

Michael Elijah Wynn, now 33, will have to wait until he's at least 58 years old before he has any hope of being released from prison for shooting his ex-girlfriend's lover multiple times outside a Daytona Beach apartment complex with one of the bullets still lodged in the victim's liver.

DAYTONA BEACH -- A man's jealous rage has landed him in prison for a minimum of 25 years in prison for shooting his ex-girlfriend's beau.

It took a jury two and a half hours to find Michael Elijah Wynn guilty as charged to attempted second-degree murder with a firearm and aggravated battery with a firearm, both first-degree felonies, in the April 26, 2011, shooting of Carlton Jones Jr., who was dating his ex-girlfriend.

Because the near-killing involved a gun, Circuit Judge R. Michael Hutcheson sentenced Wynn to 30 years prison with a minimum mandatory of 25 years, immediately after the jury's verdict Wednesday in the three-day trial.

Joseph Buczek was arrested on burglary charges early Friday related to the break-in of Coggic Upholstery, 509 S. Dixie Freeway, according to New Smyrna Beach cops.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 34-year-old man was arrested earlier today on burglary charges after an off-duty Edgewater cop caught him prowling behind businesses in the 500 block of South Dixie Freeway, New Smyrna Beach police said.

Joseph Buczek was subsequently taken into custody and transported to the Volusia County branch jail, police said.

Here is a synopsis of the 6:09 a.m. incident as described by Detective Sgt. Eugene Griffith: "An Edgewater officer observed a suspicious male emerge from behind businesses in the 500 block of South Dixie Freeway."

Griffith continued, "When the officer attempted to contact the suspect, he took flight and was apprehended after a short foot chase. It was determined on scene that the male had committed at least one burglary, at Coggic Upholstery, 509 S Dixie Freeway, and possibly others in the immediate area."

Spokesman: Husband suspected of pulling trigger; gun, suicide note near bodies

An out-of-state relative called the Sheriff's Office after being unable to reach an elderly marrid couple on the phone, leading to Tuesday night's discovery of an apparent murder-suicide in the home at 141 E. Woodhaven Circle.

ORMOND BEACH -- The recovered bodies of a husband and wife, identified as 73-year-old James Ryals and 74-year-old Joyce Ryals, in their home near Ormond Beach are believed to victims of a murder-suicide with the husband pulling the trigger that killed his wife and then huimself, a Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman said of the overnight murder-suicide.

"Based on evidence at the scene, investigators believe that James Ryals killed his wife and then killed himself,"agency spokesman Gary Davidson said this morning, adding, "The Volusia County Medical Examiner's Office is scheduled to begin the autopsies at 9 a.m."