Manatee deputies searching for second suspect in drug-related double homicide

MANATEE -- Deputies are looking for a second suspect in the Jan. 19 slayings of Karl Tuxford and Jordan Finlon, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

Tuxford was found shot to death in his vehicle in the 1100 block of Eighth Avenue East, Bradenton. Shortly afterward, Finlon was found dead with several stab wounds on the side of Bishop Harbor Road in northern Manatee County.

Investigators have said the victims were targeted and their deaths are drug related.

Ahmad Leon Dunbar, 38, is wanted on two charges of murder, deputies said Monday. Dunbar is a convicted felon, who was in prison for four and a half years on an armed robbery conviction, getting out in January 2002, and then serving another nearly two years for a conviction of cocaine trafficking, and was released again in November 2007.

An attempted murder charge filed against him in June 2005 was dropped in October of the same year.

In that homicide case, a witness told deputies on Nov. 20, 2004, that she and another woman met the victim of the shooting at an East Bradenton park at 1:30 a.m. and went back to the witness's residence to hang out. She said the victim was talking on his cell phone and seemed to have a problem or disagreement from someone on the other end.

The three were sitting and talking in the living room, nearly falling asleep, when they heard someone knock at the door. The

witness answered it and Dunbar was there, and she told him and the victim, "If there is a problem they needed to go outside."

Another witness saw Dunbar had a handgun, and Dunbar and the victim walked outside together while the witnesses stayed inside and went to sleep. Minutes later, the witnesses heard two or three gunshots from just outside the residence and then a loud banging on the front door. A woman opened it and the victim ran inside with "blood spurting from his stomach and arm."

The victim repeatedly stated that Dunbar had shot him and he needed to go to the hospital. Dunbar had fled the scene and was later arrested. The witness identified Dunbar, saying he is her son's cousin and she knew he served time at the Florida Department of Corrections.

Dunbar pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charge and it was dropped before it went to jury trial. The state attorney's office did not return a request for comment Monday on why the case was dropped.

Dwayne E. Cummings, 38, was first to be arrested and charged in the deaths of Tuxford and Finlon with two counts of armed kidnapping on Jan. 21, followed by murder charges on Jan. 25. He is being held in the Manatee County jail without bond.

This story was originally published February 15, 2016 at 11:27 PM with the headline "Manatee deputies searching for second suspect in drug-related double homicide ."