Melissa E. Holsman

1 week ago | tcpalm.com | Colleen Wixon |Melissa E. Holsman

Port St. Lucie Police Department’s newest canine, Dexter, an “electronic storage detection K9,” introduced to the public on June 19, 2025, has specialized training to help officers “locate electronic evidence,” with his partner, Detective Andrew Zamfino. PHOTO PROVIDED BY PORT ST.

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Melissa E. Holsman

VERO BEACH – An Orchid woman in court June 13, pleaded guilty to DUI manslaughter related to a 2022 fatal crash that killed an 89-year-old John’s Island man shortly before a judge ordered her to spend nearly 14 years in prison. Appearing before Circuit Judge Robert Meadows, Elizabeth Jewkes Danielsen, 63, also pleaded guilty to DUI with serious bodily injury in the May 10, 2022 crash that took the life of Charles Ingraham, and injured his wife, Frances Ingraham, 84.

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Melissa E. Holsman

VERO BEACH – A former Indian River Academy teacher will serve 25 years in prison after a jury in April convicted him of attempted premeditated first-degree murder for shooting a man outside his unit at The Preserve of Oslo apartments in 2021, court papers show. Darius Cohen, 29, had faced up to life in prison related to the Oct. 10, 2021 gunfire incident at the apartments in the 2300 block of 10th Road Southwest.

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Melissa E. Holsman

VERO BEACH – An Indian River Shores area business owner facing charges related to an alleged “murder-for-hire plot” was ordered to prison after a judge on June 6 found him guilty of sexual activity with a minor in a case that began in 2021. Circuit Judge Robert Meadows ordered Andrew Michael Mustapick, 70, of the 1000 block of Morningside Drive, to serve 15 years in prison as part of a plea deal he entered with the state on March 27, court records show.

4 weeks ago | tcpalm.com | Melissa E. Holsman

Florida prosecutors are reopening the 2006 Escobedo family murder case, seeking state charges against two men whose federal death sentences were commuted. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi supports the state's effort to pursue new death sentences for Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sanchez. Troya and Sanchez are currently fighting a transfer to a supermax prison in Colorado.