A Florida man was arrested for murdering a random bicyclist trying to get home to his two children and wife.
Jermaine Adrian Bennett was charged with capital murder after bludgeoning a 49-year-old man, identified as Jeffrey Chapman, with a tire iron in Clearwater, Florida.
Bennett told the police that he beat Chapman over ten times with the iron because Bennett was tired of what he termed the “ills of society.”
Speaking on the case, Michael Walek, the Deputy Police Chief, said Bennett had confessed to the heinous crime and that the violent act was random and not a targeted attack on the victim. He said it was a chance encounter that became deadly while the victim, Chapman, was trying to get home on his bike.
Chief Walek mentioned that a second man was involved in the crime and appealed to the suspect to turn himself in. Although he declined to mention what the second suspect did and how he was connected to the murder, he warned the suspect that the police would eventually catch up with him.
While investigating the murder, police used surveillance videos and tips that linked Bennett and his car to the brutal attack.
According to Chief Walek, Bennett returned to work at the Insight Family Eye Care located in Wesley Chapel shortly after committing the crime and acted as if nothing had happened. He said that Bennett had shown no remorse for murdering a random stranger.
Investigators said that a similar incident had happened around one hour earlier in St. Petersburg, but the victim was not murdered. They are investigating whether the two crimes might be connected.
The family and friends of Chapman were left devastated and confused by the senseless murder.
Lisa Owen, one of Chapman’s long-time friends, said they did not understand the murder and had not yet processed it. She said that the ills of society that Bennett had termed his motive had nothing to do with Chapman, adding that he was not society’s ills. He was quite the opposite, as he always tried to help anyone in need.
Chapman and Owen were colleagues in the finance industry. She said that Chapman did not attend a meeting on Friday, which was very uncharacteristic of him. When no one could find Chapman, his daughter called the police to go and check on him, but they did not find him at his house.
The police later identified Chapman as the murder victim on a North Beach sidewalk.
Owen described Chapman as a loving and talented man dedicated to his family and career and loved by everyone.
North Beach is one of the safest neighborhoods in Clearwater, with an extremely low crime rate, and that is why Chapman moved there.
Chapman left behind two children, a 25-year-old son and a 27-year-old daughter.