The three friends beaten and shot dead on a night of fishing in Florida were not killed in a drug deal gone bad, police said Monday.
Raising the reward for information to $30,000 Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said: ‘We don’t seen any obvious signs of a drug deal gone bad. We still don’t know why the murder occurred.’
Damion Tillman, 23; Keven Springfield, 30; and Brandon Rollins, 27, all died in the Friday night massacre. They were found by Cyril Rollins, the father of Brandon, who managed to call for help just before he died. Sheriff Judd said the shock of finding his son dying alongside his two friends sent Cyril to hospital later in the day.
Tillman had traveled alone to the spot, police said. His car was found facing south; the vehicle carrying Rollins and Springfield was next to it, facing north ‘right in the middle of the road’ suggesting they were parked ‘so they could talk to each other’.
Sheriff Judd said they are not releasing certain details of what was said to Cyril Rollins by his son Brandon in the moments before his death.
But he acknowledged cops are ‘banking on’ raising the reward for information over the attack from $5,000 to $30,000 to help with case. Sheriff Judd said they have received ‘well over’ 100 tips but no arrests have been made.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd spoke about the case at a press conference Monday afternoon where he raised the reward for information to $30,000
Sheriff Judd said in an earlier interview Monday the three men ‘may have been boxed in’ by cars. He told WPCV: ‘We don’t know at this point…if someone flagged them down and boxed them up in the middle of the road.
‘We don’t know what happened…whether or not they met up with some suspects who didn’t like the fact that they were talking in the road.’
Judd added: ‘Whether somebody boxed them off and stopped them. It was just a terrible event. Think about it – three best friends are doing what they like to do best and that’s to go fishing. And this is way out in the county.
‘[Rollins’ dad] is not doing well at all. In fact, later in the day he had to go to the hospital as well. You can imagine the horrible shock to hear your son on the cellphone say “help”. You rush to his side, you see his two best buddies shot dead and he is shot and really taking his last breaths.’
Of the killers Sheriff Judd added: ‘Think about this – they’ve already killed three people. Could your children be next? There’s no indication this was a dope deal gone bad. If we knew [names], we would have them in custody.’
The men were found by Cyril Rollins, the father of Brandon. Cyril is pictured left on Saturday
Tillman had traveled alone to the spot, police said. His car was found facing south; the vehicle carrying Rollins and Springfield was next to it, facing north ‘right in the middle of the road’ suggesting they were parked ‘so they could talk to each other’
Police had earlier said the three men may have been the victims of a targeted attack by multiple attackers. Judd admitted Monday afternoon officers still do not know the motive.
But he said Saturday: ‘You don’t just stumble upon somebody out here.’ He described the crime scene as ‘the worst I have ever seen’.
The three men were fishing at a popular lake in Frostproof, 70 miles south of Orlando in central Florida. Brandon is said to have been an avid fisherman who went out every other night, according to his mom.
Rollins called his father at about 10pm Friday and managed to only say ‘help.’ The father jumped into his car and went to where his son had said he was going fishing.
‘When he arrived he found his son Brandon barely alive, and his two friends deceased,’ the sheriff’s office said in a press release. ‘Brandon was able to say a few things to his dad, which we are not releasing at this time.’
Rollins’ father had left his home without his cellphone, so he returned to a nearby gas station and called 911, the sheriff’s office said. He did not use his son’s phone to make the call, as he would ‘have had difficulty finding it at the scene’, police said Monday.
‘I was just so upset last night, I just didn’t know what to do,’ said Cyril Rollins, the father of Brandon.
‘We heard some background and they fussing all that,’ he told WFLA 8.
‘But I left, I went on out here. When I got there I was looking for my son. It was a mess. I found my son. I was holding him he was telling me what happened but I was too shocked to know what was going on.’
When authorities arrived at the scene, all three men were dead.
Three men were murdered by Lake Streety in Frostproof, Florida, on Friday night
Tillman, left, traveled to Lake Streety first and arrived by himself, according to sheriff Judd. Rollins, right, called his father at about 10pm Friday and managed to only say ‘help.’
Keven Springfield. Sheriff Judd said Monday officers are still trying to establish a motive
‘This is a horrific scene,’ said Judd, ‘I’ve been to a lot of murder scenes in my life and this ranks among the worst I’ve been to.’
Judd added that the suspect or suspects may have known the men.
‘You don’t just stumble upon somebody out here,’ he said. ‘It’s not like there’s a lot of people around here. As you can see, it’s cow pastures and lakes.’
Grady Judd, sheriff of Polk Country, said the ‘horrific’ scene was among the worst he’d seen
Rollins’s girlfriend Jessica Steenson told WFLA 8 that the sheriff promised to find the killers.
‘That he will not stop until justice is served for them three boys, my boyfriend, and his two best friends,’ she said.
‘I moved here from Jacksonville, Florida, for him two years ago and this is not how it was supposed to be and I want justice for him. And I will not stop until he gets it.’
Dottie Payton, Rollins’s mother, said she too wants justice to be done.
‘I want it to be served the right way and I’m sure they’re out there watching and seeing what’s going on and they need to come forward,’ she said.