A husband is dead after two men targeted a couple’s home, detectives say

Detectives believe an east Manatee County couple’s home was targeted during a home invasion early Saturday morning in which two suspects left the 54-year-old husband dead, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

At about 1 a.m., deputies responded to a report of a burglary in progress in the 1600 block of Zipperer Road in east Manatee County after receiving a 911 call from the home, according to a news release. When they arrived they found the 45-year-old wife, who told them that two men had entered her home and accosted her downstairs while her husband, Dwayne Larry Hutchinson, was upstairs.

As deputies began a search of the home, they found her husband dead in an upstairs bedroom.

The two suspects had left the woman downstairs and had fled moments later, sheriff’s office spokesman Dave Bristow said.

“She was able to call for assistance and we came,” Bristow said. “She was fearing something may have happened to him.”

The sheriff’s office is not releasing the cause of death but have said that trauma to Hutchinson’s body is consistent with homicide. Detectives believe the couple was targeted.

Hutchinson’s wife was taken to a local hospital and later released. She was not injured by the suspects, according to Bristow.

The home’s remote location is why detectives believe that they were targeted.

“You can’t even see the home from the road,” Bristow said. “We didn’t get a good description from her.”

Neither Hutchinson nor his wife have any criminal history. The couple were married in January 2015, according to records.

The sheriff’s office has not been called to their home in the past, according to Bristow.

Anyone with information is asked to call the MCSO at 941-747-3011, ext. 2519 or Crime Stoppers at 866-634-TIPS.

This story was originally published July 8, 2017 at 12:06 PM with the headline "A husband is dead after two men targeted a couple’s home, detectives say."