Overview
- Officers searching a remote Palm Bay area called The Compound found two suitcases with human remains after reports of vultures on Saturday.
- Medical examiners identified the victim as 28-year-old Colie Lee Daniel and ruled the case a homicide with blunt-force injuries and dismemberment, though the full cause remains unclear because not all remains were recovered.
- An Amazon package bearing Lucas Sander Jones’ name was inside a suitcase, and a later search of his Indialantic home turned up blood stains and a knife as well as visible injuries on Jones, according to an arrest affidavit.
- Jones was first arrested March 28 on evidence-disposal charges and released on bond the next day, then re-arrested in early April on a murder count, with outlets citing conflicting records that list either first- or second-degree, and he is now held without bond.
- In statements to police documented in the affidavit, Jones’ girlfriend said he admitted the killing, described using a baseball bat and cutting tools, and said he targeted Daniel because he was a registered sex offender, while investigators continue to build the case.