miamiherald.com: Man mistaken for sex offender, killed with bat
news4jax.com: Man Mistaken For Sex Offender Killed
Orlando, Fla. -- The Orange County Sheriff's Office believes a 78-year-old man was beaten to death with a baseball bat because he was mistaken for a sex offender.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Edwards, whose body was found in a pool of blood early Wednesday morning, didn't have a criminal history. Two men have been arrested in connection to the slaying of a man inside his Bithlo trailer. Deputies pulled Robert Pascale from a wooded area Thursday evening near the Fifth Avenue trailer where Hugh Edwards, 79, was found dead on Wednesday. Investigators said Pascale was found by a bloodhound in a muddy pond with only his face exposed for air.
Pascale is at the Orange County Jail charged with first-degree murder. He told WKMG-TV that he mistakenly beat the wrong man.
When reporters asked him if he thought his alleged victim was a sex offender, he replied, "I thought he was, and the only thing running through my mind is what my uncle did to me." Pascale continued, "I hit him with a bat twice."
A woman told deputies she was drinking at a trailer on Fifth Avenue with some acquaintances Tuesday night when one of Pascale's friends, Michael Garay, asked her what she would do if a sex offender lived next door. The woman told deputies she said, "I would kill him."
Although Edwards had a similar name and age as a registered sex offender, sheriff's officials said Edwards had absolutely no criminal record and was not a registered sex offender.
Police arrested Garay on Thursday and charged him with accessory after the fact in a first-degree murder. Deputies said he told them he remained at the gate in front of the victim's trailer while Pascale went in with a baseball bat. Garay said he watched Pascale later discard his bloody clothes.
According to the arrest affidavit, there were signs of a struggle in Edwards' trailer that indicated he was murdered.
This animal should be executed for this horrific crime. but watch: because he murdered someone he THOUGHT was a sex offender, he will likely get a light sentence.
