Killers on the lam: 6 homicides from 2017 remain open

As 2017 comes to a close, five homicide cases from a particularly bloody year remain unsolved while a sixth also remains open with the suspect at large.

In all, there were 22 homicides in 2017, the same as in the year before.

Ten of this year’s homicides occurred during August. Six killings that happened in a 38-hour span between Aug. 3 and 5 really put investigators to the test.

“Whenever you have incident where you have multiple victims, that drives the numbers up,” Manatee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dave Bristow said. “The good news is that the majority of these have been closed.”

The six homicides that remain open cases are:

▪  Dwayne Hutchinson: On July 8, Hutchinson was found dead when deputies responded to a report of a burglary in progress just after 1 a.m. at home he shared with his wife in the 1600 block of Zipperer Road in East Manatee County. Hutchinson’s wife had called 911 and told the deputies that she had been accosted downstairs downstairs but that he was upstairs, where they found him dead.

No person of interest or suspect has been identified in the case. Of any homicide this year, according to Wells, the Hutchinson case is the one investigators have received the least information on.

A reward of up to $8,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest of a suspect in Hutchinson’s death: $5,000 offered by the Gold Star Club of Manatee County, plus the standard $3,000 offered by Crime Stoppers.

▪  In the early morning hours of Aug. 5, Rodney Williams, 23; Keith Lamar Jones, 28; and Andre Bryant, 31, were all shot during a shootout that occurred at a Bayshore Gardens home in the 1100 block of Harvard Avenue.

Williams’ girlfriend was accosted by four suspects, according to detectives, when she arrived home and was locked in a bedroom. When Williams and possibly one other person came home shortly afterward, the woman heard an argument followed by gunshots. Deputies arrived to find Williams and Jones, who was wearing a mask over his head, both dead.

Less than four hours later, Bryant was found dead at the intersection of Bahia Vista Street and Yale Avenue in Sarasota after a 911 caller reported seeing a man asleep or passed out under a tree. Sarasota police found Bryant with fatal gunshot wounds and a mask over his head.

Using cell phone records, detectives were able confirm that Bryant had been in the Bayshore Gardens home at the time of the shooting. As a result, it is believed that two suspects remain at large, whom detectives believe they have identified but they have not publicly disclosed their names.

▪  On. Nov. 21, Jose Barajas-Santibanez, 42, was found dead in a wooded area not far from the roadway in the 5600 block of Verna Bethany Road in Myakka City. Barajas-Santibanez had been missing for a week.

The victim’s daughter had reported Barajas-Santibanez missing on Nov. 15 after not having heard from him since the morning of the day prior. Hours after being reported missing, deputies found his vehicle abandoned on 21st Street East in Palmetto, raising suspicions that he could be in danger.

Barajas-Santibanez, whose death has been ruled a homicide, has been implicated in drug trafficking in the past, according to court records.

A reward of up to $8,000 is being offered in the case.

▪  On Dec. 18, Jarvis R. Isom Jr., 30, was shot during an altercation just outside the entrance way to the bar and nightclub, Spot on 26th, 4307 26th St. W., Bradenton. Isom was struck by one of two bullets fired and collapsed just inside the entrance way. Paramedics rushed him to a local hospital, where he later died.

Demetrius Gabriel, also 30, was identified within hours of the fatal shooting as the alleged shooter by detectives. Based on information from witnesses and surveillance video, detectives obtained an arrest warrant charging Gabriel with murder.

Gabriel remains at large. No motive for the shooting has been identified.

Special unit investigates homicides

This year marked the fifth year that the multi-agency Manatee Homicide Investigative Unit has investigated all homicides in the county. The sheriff’s office continues to tout that as the driving force behind the successful closure of so many cases.

Of the 22 homicide cases in 2016, all but three are considered solved. A suspect remains at large in one of the solved cases.

“We all know that if we can more information within the first 24 to 48 hours, it is very highly likely that we can make an arrest,” Sheriff Rick Wells said.

When the unit was formed, the goal was to pull all the county’s resources in order to have a better chance of not only identifying and arresting a suspect, but building a prosecutable case, Wells explained. As a unit, they are able to send all the detectives into the community to gather evidence, any potential video surveillance footage and witness statements and to canvass the neighborhood.

Wells said homicide detectives truly care about solving these cases, which makes all the difference.

“All homicides are terrible but they are all different,” Wells said. “They require the expertise of these detectives.”

The sheriff’s office is still hopeful that the remaining unsolved will be closed by detectives, according to Bristow.

“It’s never to late to call in. In some of these cases, just one phone call could be enough,” Bristow said. “There is always somebody out there that knows something.”

Anyone with any information about any unsolved homicide case can call the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office at 941-747-3011 ext. 2519, or to remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward call Crimestoppers at at 866-634-8477(TIPS).

This story was originally published December 29, 2017 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Killers on the lam: 6 homicides from 2017 remain open."