Prosecutors in Florida are pursuing the death penalty for a woman charged with the murder of her two former partners on the same day.
Susan Avalon, aged 51, was taken into custody last December after David Scott, 54, was discovered with a fatal gunshot wound to the chest at his Bradenton home on December 17. On the same day, Timothy Flecher, 55, was found dead at his residence in Tampa.
When police arrived at Scott’s home, he was still alive and identified the shooter as “possibly my ex-wife, Susan,” according to an arrest report cited by The Tampa Bay Times.
Authorities located Avalon at her home the following day. When officers mentioned they needed to discuss her ex-husband, she reportedly responded, “Which one?” as reported by the New York Post.
Avalon’s arrest came after David Scott was found with a gunshot wound at his Bradenton residence on December 17, and Timothy Flecher was discovered dead in Tampa later that day. These incidents were documented by the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
It was only after this interaction that investigators realized there was potentially a second victim involved.
She was also reportedly seen bleaching the inside of her car.
Flecher was found dead from a gunshot wound inside his home with the back door glass shattered after police did a welfare check on him following their conversation with Avalon.
“Witnesses reported seeing Avalon and her vehicle in a driveway near the home around the time of the shooting,” the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office said in a release. “Investigators have also found several pieces of evidence they say connect her to the murder.”
Susan Avalon in court. (Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office/Instagram)
Prosecutors believe Avalon actually killed Flecher first, then Scott next just hours later, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Her current boyfriend, identified as Jeffrey Wescoat, told police in an arrest affidavit that Avalon has been sending him “unusual” texts during the day and had called to tell him: “in case anything happened to her, she loved him,” The Times reported.
He also heard her say: “f–k David and f–k Tim” when she got home before taking a shower with her clothes on.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. (Google Maps)
“While our case focuses on one victim here in Hillsborough County, we know this tragedy did not end with one life,” State Attorney Suzy Lopez said in a statement. “Two families are grieving, and we are committed to seeking justice while standing with everyone impacted by this senseless violence.”
The state’s attorney’s office added that they are seeking the death penalty because of Avalon’s “cold, calculated, and premeditated” crimes that were “especially heinous, atrocious” and “cruel, that it occurred during the commission of a burglary, and that the defendant was involved in a contemporaneous violent felony.”
Avalon is charged with first-degree murder in Flecher’s death and second-degree murder in Scott’s death.
Avalon, who remains in custody in Hillsborough County on no bail, is expected to next be in court in July.
–>
