Ft. Myers, Florida: Family member charged in ‘extremely violent’ triple homicide
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that Brian Omar Hyde has been charged in the deaths of Dorla Pitts, 37, her daughter Starlette Pitts, 17, and Michael Kelly, Jr., 19.
Deputies were called to the home in the 3507 21st Street SW shortly before noon Tuesday. It all started when Dorla Pitts walked in on the scene while she was on the phone with her husband. Her scream was the last thing Dorrien Pitts heard. He then called a family friend who went to the home and discovered the bodies.
– VIDEO: Watch the full LCSO press conference
The 18-month-old daughter of Starlette and Michael was found unharmed. Detectives are not sharing details on whether the child was near the bodies.
Hyde, 19, is charged with three counts of second-degree murder and faces a charge in the death of Starlette Pitts’ unborn child. He was arrested Tuesday for driving without a license. At the time of his arrest, he had blood on his body and clothes, according to LCSO.
– DOWNLOAD: Brian Omar Hyde arrest report
Michael’s mother, Sherri Flemming, said Hyde is Starlette’s cousin and Dorla’s nephew who had been staying at the home after recently moving here from Belize. According to LCSO, Hyde is in the country illegally and is awaiting a court hearing as an illegal immigrant, having crossed the Texas border earlier this year.
Lt. Matt Sands said it was an “extremely violent scene, even for us. All homicide scenes are normally violent, but this scene was what we considered unimaginable.”
He said there is evidence all the victims tried to defend themselves.
At the same time deputies were working the Lehigh scene, Fort Myers Police received a call for a reckless driver. Hyde was pulled over in a white Range Rover for driving on the opposite side of the road, at which time he was arrested for driving with no license. The Range Rover was registered to the Lehigh address, as were two other sets of keys Hyde had with him. Detectives say a bloody palm print found at the scene matched Hyde’s.
LCSO is still investigating a motive.
Investigators are not releasing specific details on the murder weapon, only stating that the victims were hit several times with a sharp object.
FAMILY LEFT TO PICK UP THE PIECES
Michael’s mother, Sherri Flemming, said Thursday that when she met Brian Hyde, she felt something was off, but accepted him because he is Starlette’s cousin. She said the young couple took him in because they were good, caring people.
“This could happen to anybody, so be careful who you bring into your house. It could be your own family member,” Flemming said.
She said Hyde was made to feel like family by Starlette and Michael, who invited him to his family’s gatherings, but Flemming said she felt uncomfortable when Hyde came around.
While it helps to know how they died, it’s the why that leaves Flemming emotional. “They was innocent people, how could you do this?”
Michael’s sister, Derquiasha Henderson, said they were just picking out baby names for the new baby. “We were just doing all of that, we were supposed to hang out.”
She said now they’ll have to show the surviving 18-month-old, found unharmed in a bedroom, how much her parents loved her.
“I can picture her trying to go to her mom and my brother and wake them up, because that’s the type of baby she is. She love her parents, she loved them and they loved her,” Henderson said.
The surviving grandparents from both families are in the process of figuring out how to care for the little girl, and say what they need most right now is time to heal.
WHO IS BRIAN HYDE?
Authorities in Brian Hyde’s native country of Belize say he is no stranger to them.
Hyde was recently wanted in connection to a recent robbery of a cell phone store there before fleeing the country.
Hyde first came to the U.S. in January, illegally entering through Texas, according to investigators.
Since then, Hyde had been staying with his relatives, the Pitts, in Lehigh Acres.
According to Belize media outlets, Hyde was also arrested in November of last year for assaulting a police officer, a charge he later disputed.
Other reports show Hyde and two other men were suspects in a double murder case dating back to October 2013. He was only charged with a lesser crime of “handling stolen goods.”
A newspaper reporter said Hyde comes from a known “criminal” family.
His uncle, Russell Hyde, was considered a suspect in the brutal murders of two Belize nationals in May. Both men were found decapitated and dismembered.
To date, Russell Hyde has not been charged with their murders.
According to sources in Belize, police do not have the technology to analyze DNA and other forensic evidence like the U.S. does, which may be one reason they had such a hard time connecting Russell Hyde to those deaths.
As for Brian Hyde, he remains in Lee County Jail and faces trial here.
Attorney Michael Raheb said if Hyde is found not guilty, he’ll face an immigration judge and most likely be deported.
But if found guilty, “then he may be serving life in prison, in which case the whole point of deportation becomes moot because he won’t be released from Florida state prison,” Raheb said.
Officials at the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement have not yet responded to NBC2’s requests for comment.
