Man found dead in the doorway to his Bradenton home. Cops say it was murder

In what neighbors say is normally a quiet neighborhood, deputies are investigating a murder after a man was found dead in the doorway to his home, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

Officials were called to the 2100 block of 45th Street Court East, Bradenton, at 4:20 a.m. Thursday and found 62-year-old Robert McCarthy dead in his Elwood Park home where he lived alone, according to the sheriff's office.

A man was driving to work Thursday and noticed the door to the man's home was open.

"He looks, he sees the victim laying in the doorway and he immediately knew that something was wrong and he actually had his sister come over and check as he drove off and went to work. And we were called immediately," said Dave Bristow, spokesman for the sheriff's office.

McCarthy, whose identity was released Thursday afternoon after his next of kin was identified, suffered "undisclosed trauma," and his death is being investigated as a homicide.

"It was quite evident from the scene that he was killed," Bristow said.

The sheriff's office is "somewhat familiar" with McCarthy, according to Bristow.

In May 2013, deputies responded to McCarthy's home in the 3200 block of 34th Avenue Drive East in Bradenton in response to an abandoned 911 call, according to court documents. When deputies approached the home, McCarthy's girlfriend told them that she had ended their 11-year romantic relationship two days prior after he had beaten her.

McCarthy's girlfriend told deputies she returned to the home to get her prescription glasses that McCarthy had taken from her when an argument two days prior had escalated. She was trying to leave when he took the glasses, she explained, and then McCarthy pressed his revolver on the back of her neck. He then began to punch her as he forced her into a corner.

She fell to the floor and McCarthy continued to punch her until she was unconscious. When she came to, she kicked him off of her and managed to run away. The woman told deputies that he had called her in the couple days since, and threatened her multiple times. Bruises were visible on her left arm, shoulder area and both her legs.

When deputies were invited into McCarthy's home to speak with him, broken glass and a trail of blood leading to the bedroom made it evident that a physical altercation had occurred inside the home, one deputy stated in the report. A single barrel shotgun spotted laying on a kitchen counter was taken by deputies, along with a loaded revolver that McCarthy told them was in his top nightstand drawer.

When asked about what had occurred between him and his girlfriend, McCarthy would only say that he had tried to get away from her as she punched him in the face. Deputies noted that his left eye was bruised and had a small cut above it.

McCarthy was arrested and charged with aggravated domestic assault and domestic battery. Less than a month later, his girlfriend wrote to the court asking that the no contact order issued in the case be dropped so that she could go home. The woman said that McCarthy was her caregiver and that she was not in fear of danger to herself.

But while the no contact order was lifted, according to court documents, his girlfriend illegally entered McCarthy's home in September, called 911 and McCarthy was subsequently arrested on charges of domestic battery and violating his pretrial release.

McCarthy had lived at the home on 45th Street Court East for the last year or two, Bristow said, and was last seen sometime Wednesday evening. Detectives do not believe it was a random incident, but they did not have a person of interest as of Thursday morning.

Bristow said anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in the area between 11 p.m. Wednesday to 3 a.m. Thursday should contact the sheriff's office.

Houses on 45th Street Court East are arranged around the oval-shaped street, and several are surrounded by fences and mostly shaded by large trees. Aside from a few cars traveling to and from the homes and sheriff's office investigators at the crime scene, there was little traffic in the area.

Jim Fraley lives on a horse farm down the street from where McCarthy's body was found. He said it's normally a quiet neighborhood.

"I'm not only surprised, I'm shocked," Fraley said of the news.

Fraley said a neighbor further down the street called him, alerting him to the numerous sheriff's office vehicles

From the scene of the murder, horses can be seen grazing behind wooden fences down the road. Fraley said several people in the area have horses — there are more horses than kids in the neighborhood, he said — and most of them know each other just from being in the horse business.

But he didn't know many people in what he called "the circle," where the murder victim lived.

Anyone with information about what happened can call the Manatee County Sheriff's Office at 941-747-3011 or Crime Stoppers at 866-634-TIPS.

This story was originally published April 26, 2018 at 9:26 AM with the headline "Man found dead in the doorway to his Bradenton home. Cops say it was murder."