POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Two brothers have been given life imprisonment for the murder of a 21-year-old in Polk County, according to the state attorney’s office on Tuesday.
Last week, Angel Lobato was handed his life sentence, following his brother, Jo Lobato, who received the same verdict towards the end of last year. The brothers were found guilty of first-degree murder by a jury in Polk County.
The two brothers were still teenagers when investigators said they plotted to rob and kill 21-year-old Danne Frazier.
Frazier’s mother reported him missing on November 4, 2020, noting that he had failed to respond to calls throughout the day, along with irregular activity noticed on his bank account.
Frazier’s vehicle was located by Flagler County deputies on the night of November 6, 2020, with Jo Lobato behind the wheel and Angel Lobato in the passenger seat.
Days after, on November 10, Frazier’s body was discovered in a dense, wooded area in Lake Wales, having sustained severe trauma, according to Polk County deputies.
Inside the car belonging to Frazier, investigators found numerous bloodstains on the interior and exterior surfaces, alongside some of Frazier’s garments in the trunk. These findings led to the arrest of the Lobato brothers for the theft of Frazier’s vehicle, among other crimes.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd called the brothers’ confessions afterward “horrific,” stating that they both talked about “how proud they were.”
Jo Lobato said he began talking with Frazier on social media about a month before the murder. The Lobato brothers were looking to “hit a lick” to obtain a car and money, and saw Frazier as an easy target, according to the state attorney’s office.
Jo Lobato pretended he wanted a relationship with Frazier and eventually convinced Frazier to meet up with him in the Central Park area of Winter Haven. It was at that point that the brothers carried out their plan to rob and kill Frazier.
Angel Lobato hid behind a tree until Jo Lobato and Fraizer arrived at Lake Howard in Frazier’s car. Detectives said the brothers had already planned out the spot of the attack.
Angle Lobato then came out from behind the tree with a metal bat and struck Fraizer numerous times. The brothers also cut Fraizer’s throat with a knife to make sure he was “gone,” officials said.
They then loaded Frazier’s body into the car and drove him to the Lake Wales area where they dumped his body.
“When we interviewed them, they were pure evil in the flesh,” Judd said after the brothers’ arrests. “They bragged about it, they talked about how, you know, they’d have street cred. They’d have their stripes. They’d be respected on the streets because they’d done this murder.”
Years later, and with both brothers sentenced, State Attorney Brian Haas thanked Assistant State Attorney Ralph Guerra and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and Lakeland Police Department for “pursuing justice” in the case.
