Key witness in 2016 double-murder case dies

A key witness in the case against Dwayne Cummings and Ahmad Dunbar for the January 2016 slayings of Karl Tuxford and Jordon Finlon has died.

Fredrick “Freddie” Douglas, 44, died on Friday, but no foul play is suspected. Results of his autopsy have not yet been released, however.

Just before 1 p.m. on Jan. 19, 2016, Bradenton police were called to the 1100 block of Eighth Avenue East to reports of a shooting and found Tuxford in his Jeep shot dead. Less than an hour later, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office was called to Bishop Harbor Road in northern Manatee County after motorists spotted a body along the side of road, later identified to be that of Finlon.

Douglas was initially identified as a suspect in the murders along with Dwayne Edward Cummings, 40. Both men were arrested two days after the slayings. Douglas surrendered, was arrested on an unrelated domestic battery charge and questioned regarding the murders, but was never charged.

Less than a month later, Cummings was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder, armed kidnapping and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Ahmad Leon Dunbar, 39, was later identified as a suspect and was charged with second-degree murder with a firearm in the fatal shooting of Tuxford, but has not been charged in Finlon’s death.

Cummings is scheduled to go to trial during the two-week trial period that begins Sept. 11. Dunbar is scheduled to go to trial during the two-week trial period that begins Nov. 13.

The murders were an act of revenge for the couple stealing a safe with cash from Cummings’ home, according to the investigation by the Manatee Homicide Investigative Unit. Cummings reported the alleged burglary to the Bradenton Police Department the day before the murders.

Lead homicide detectives Jeffrey Bliss and James Curulla have testified about the information Douglas or other witnesses in the case provided them.

An informant in the case reached out to Curulla following the murders and said that Finlon had reportedly told her that she and Tuxford had committed a robbery and stole $800. Finlon then used some of the stolen money to buy narcotics.

Douglas had told the same informant that his cousin, Cummings, had put out a “reward” for Tuxford and Finlon after they robbed him, according to Curulla. Douglas told her they were going to “beat her up” and “kill the dude,” she said.

Curulla noted in Cummings’ arrest report, detectives were able to find phone calls and text messages between Finlon and Douglas shortly before the kidnappings and murders. Video surveillance and witnesses confirmed that moments later Tuxford and Finlon pulled up to Douglas’ home in the 3300 block of 12th Street Court East, according to Bliss.

A black SUV with gold rims pulled up behind it, several men got out, confronted Tuxford in the front seat and Cummings got into the back seat. He warned Tuxford not to drive to the police as Tuxford pulled his Jeep out of the driveway, running over a chain link fence, they said. Douglas then got back in the SUV and followed Tuxford’s Jeep.

Douglas later called another witness and they could hear Finlon screaming for them to stop hitting her, the initial informant told detectives.

The witness “told her that Freddy was crying when she asked what happened to Jordan, and that Freddy said that they might have gone too far and that she might be dead,” Curulla wrote in the report.

Douglas also gave detectives an emotional statement detailing how Finlon had been driven to Rubonia in another car, a Cadillac owned by Cummings, while Dunbar sat close to her in the backseat, Bliss testified during a hearing in July. Cummings pulled her out when they arrived, according to Bliss, and brutally stabbed her — later estimated at her autopsy to be 40 to 44 times.

“He said it was so brutal he couldn’t really look at it, he had to turn away,” Bliss said during the hearing. “She was making some whimpering noises, gasping for air, and it was a friend of his so he couldn’t really watch.”

It was one of the most brutal murders he had ever seen, Bliss added.

Douglas’ troubled past included convictions of battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence and possession of cocaine.

But in his youth, Douglas was known as the star quarterback for Southeast High School who ran for 706 yards and passed for 603 to lead the Seminoles to a 10-2 record and the second round of the state playoffs in 1991, according to Herald archives.

Douglas, a product of Bradenton’s Broncos Youth Football League, was known to instill fear on the football field despite being 5-foot-9 and weighing 160 pounds. He later signed with and went on to play for Northwest Mississippi Community College.

As a sophomore flanker in 1992, Douglas had 25 pass receptions for 334 yards and five touchdowns for Northwest Mississippi CC, the junior college national football champion and owner of a 13-0 record.

This story was originally published May 31, 2017 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Key witness in 2016 double-murder case dies."