Man commits murders over X-Box and clothes.

[Guest CronoT]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/08/08/bod...ound/index.html

 

(CNN) -- Authorities in Deltona, Florida, have arrested and charged four people in the killings of six people in a rental home, Volusia County's sheriff said Sunday.

 

Sheriff Ben Johnson said the murder was organized by a man who was angry because he believed his Xbox video game system and some clothes had been stolen.

 

Alleged ringleader Troy Victorino, 27, has not confessed, but three teenagers Johnson said Victorino recruited to assist him have, Johnson said. The three were identified as Robert Cannon, 18; Jerone Hunter, 18; and Michael Salas, 18.

 

All are charged with first degree murder and armed burglary.

 

The Associated Press reported that Victorino has a criminal record.

 

The four killers, armed with aluminum baseball bats, forced their way into the home where the victims were in beds early Friday morning, and beat them to death -- just as Victorino planned, Johnson said.

 

The victims, four men and two women, also sustained knife wounds, but autopsies showed the blunt force trauma from the bats killed them, the sheriff's office said.

 

The victims had no chance to arm themselves or fight back, Johnson said. "There was no way they could really defend themselves."

 

All of the victims experienced severe trauma -- and one body was so badly mangled that it has not yet been officially identified, he said.

 

"This is the worst thing I've ever seen in my career," Johnson said.

 

Johnson called for all four to face the death penalty, although that usually is decided by a prosecuting attorney.

 

Five of the victims were identified as Jonathan Gleason, 18; Roberto Gonzalez, 28; Michelle Nathan, 19; Francisco Roman, 30; and Anthony Vega, 34.

 

Investigators believe the attack occurred about 1 a.m. Friday. The bodies were found Friday about 6:30 a.m. when a co-worker, alarmed because one of the people failed to show up for work, went to the home and found the blood-spattered crime scene.

 

Victorino and Hunter were taken in for questioning on Sunday. Hunter confessed, and led authorities to Cannon and Salas, said Johnson.

 

Johnson said he does not believe any other people were involved in the incident.

 

Man, that is fucked up.

[Downhome 0]

"It's good to play together!"

 

Oh is it?

 

For people like this, there shouldn't even be a wait to put them to death. Just get it over with, as they obviously don't deserve to live.

[Guest MikeSC]

It could've been worse. He could've killed over a Gamecube.

*shudder*

-=Mike

[MrRant 0]

But he can be rehabilitated.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Especially if they say they're sorry...

[Guest Wildbomb 4:20]

And this, ladies and gentlemen, provides proof that X-Box owners are exhibiting all the symptoms of Madden Withdrawal.

 

--Ryan

...who thinks the PS2 is better anyways...

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Time to sue Bill Gates.

 

And for the record, I'm a PS2 owner and a Madden freak. Does anyone know if the Collector's Edition "old school" modes will feature this year's teams or just go back to each year's specific roster? (Example: The Madden '93 mode will feature 1993 teams, not 2004 ones...)

[Guest Wildbomb 4:20]

It looks like it will feature the old teams...just with the "QB #11" instead of names and the like.

 

Still gotta be a ton of memory...could there be two discs?

 

--Ryan

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Well in MY DAY we didn't have the fancy names -- we had to find out who the players were.

 

In addition, we only got to hear Madden say "He'll remember that number" and "Boom, he's on his back."

 

And that's the way it was and we LIKED it...

[Guest MikeSC]

And this, ladies and gentlemen, provides proof that X-Box owners are exhibiting all the symptoms of Madden Withdrawal.

 

--Ryan

...who thinks the PS2 is better anyways...

PS2 is better? Well, we know who's going to snap next.

-=Mike

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Uh-oh, the line is being drawn in the sand.

 

*hops over to PS2 side*...

[Guest MikeSC]

Uh-oh, the line is being drawn in the sand.

 

*hops over to PS2 side*...

You Gates-ist!

-=Mike

[Downhome 0]

They are showig the bond hearing for the four guys right now on FOX.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

10+ years ago it was all about killing someone for a pair of Air Jordans. At least now people are killing others over video games -- a step up, if you ask me...

[Guest Wildbomb 4:20]

Mike, come on. The X-Box controller fucks me up more than friggen light beer ever would. Although, you never know...I am slightly on the crazy side...

 

But while I'm at it...fuck Bill Gates.

 

kkk...I hereby name you Emperor of the PS2 Sporting Game World. Because, well, that's the way it should go.

 

--Ryan

...and PS2 will always own the X-Box.

[Guest Vitamin X]

--Ryan

...and PS2 will always own the X-Box.

 

In slow loading times, aggravating disc read errors, extreme quantity of shitty games being released for it, and horridness of online play, always.

 

Xboxism 4 life

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

People get killed over a few crumpled dollar bills and a fake watch every damn day. Where's their thread?

[Slayer 0]

People get killed over a few crumpled dollar bills and a fake watch every damn day. Where's their thread?

Right here

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Ha. Good job X and Slayer.

 

And Wildbomb, I'd rather just be the head of the Madden District. I don't have time to play other sports games, although I wish I did...

[DerangedHermit 0]

At least he didn't get killed WITH an X-Box.

 

That would be a terrible way to go.

[lomasmoney 0]

man niggas are straight crazy nowadays. I mean instead of killing these people why didnt he just go out and file a robbery report with the police or maybe even work some overtime at work figuring he has one and buy a new Xbox. People like these guys are too stupid to be rehibilitated. Grown ass men killing over a damn X-Box.

[Guest Wildbomb 4:20]

kkk...sounds fine by me. I can pick up the slack in the rest of the EA Sports World...NCAA Football, MVP Baseball, NHL...always fun.

 

And who needs online play anyways...that's what roommates are for.

 

--Ryan

...who might think about killing if he doesn't get Madden on time...

[MrRant 0]

At least he didn't get killed WITH an X-Box.

 

That would be a terrible way to go.

He would need one of the old controllers though....

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

It could've been worse. He could've killed over a Gamecube.

*shudder*

-=Mike

My Gamecube was stolen (the first one I Got at launch) and I somehow managed to not want to kill the idiot, even though I knew who it was. I was supposed to get paid restitution for $600 (cost of the Gamecube and other stuff that he stole) but because the guy was on drugs, he couldn't get a job, and was picked up and sent to a rehab clinic. This was 2 years ago, and I still haven't seen the $600, nor have I seen the guy, so Im guessing he's dead or in jail. I doubt you can stay in rehab for 2 years.

 

I feel a bit better about not going nuts and killing the guy now.

[Slayer 0]

We break away from the console conversation to go back to the original story

 

Source

4 Officers Fired Over Xbox Slaying Errors

 

 

DELAND, Fla. - The state has fired a probation officer and three of his supervisors for missing key opportunities to lock up a violent ex-convict before he became the suspected mastermind of a home invasion that left six people dead — supposedly over an Xbox (news - web sites) video game system.

 

Corrections Secretary James Crosby said the officials let the suspect, Troy Victorino, slip through the cracks when he should have been behind bars long before Friday's slayings.

 

"There is no excuse for this inaction," Crosby said Monday.

 

Victorino's probation officer let him leave a regular appointment even though Victorino should have been detained for violating his probation for allegedly punching an acquaintance in the face in a dispute over money, state officials said.

 

"I think somebody, somewhere dropped the ball," said Mark Shukwit, the stepfather of 19-year-old Michelle Nathan, one of the six people beaten and stabbed to death early Friday as they slept.

 

Victorino, 27, and three teenage defendants have been charged with first-degree murder and armed burglary. The four were denied bond and appointed public defenders Monday during their first court appearance.

 

Since his release from prison in 2002 on battery and grand theft charges, Victorino, 27, has been accused of battery, a hit-and-run and making harassing phone calls. Yet each time, he managed to stay out of jail, court records show.

 

Victorino was arrested July 29 — a Thursday — on a felony battery charge, accused of punching a man over a car debt. He was released on $2,500 bond, and sheriff's deputies filed a routine report with the probation office the next day.

 

The probation office was supposed to send a report to a judge requesting an arrest warrant for probation violation within 48 hours of getting the police report, Crosby said. But instead of that being done on that Monday, the paperwork was not filled out until last Wednesday. It wasn't taken to the courthouse until last Friday, when the judge issued an arrest warrant, court records show.

 

The report outlined the facts of Victorino's July 28 alleged crime and July 29 arrest, noted that he was on probation for a violent battery and said he appears to be "a threat to the community." It recommended that he be put in jail.

 

That recommendation was not carried out during Victorino's regular check-in last Thursday and Crosby said he had no answer for why Victorino was able to walk away. Within hours, the six victims, who ranged in age from 18 to 34, were dead.

 

Crosby fired Victorino's probation officer, who specialized in handling violent offenders; an administrator in charge of four counties in northeast Florida, and one of three regional probation directors in charge of northern Florida. All four men had been with the corrections department or probation system more than 20 years each.

 

Police said the killings were the brutal culmination of an argument between Victorino and one of the victims, whom officials identified Monday as Erin Belanger, 22. She was singled out for a beating so brutal that even dental records were useless in trying to identify her.

 

Authorities say the source of the dispute was an Xbox video game system and clothes owned by Victorino. Belanger's grandparents own a Florida winter home that was supposed to be vacant this summer, but police said Victorino and other squatters used it in July as a party spot.

 

The squatters were kicked out, but they left behind the Xbox and clothes. Belanger took the items back to the three-bedroom rental home she shared with friends. Investigators said Victorino organized the attack to retrieve the items.

 

Some relatives of the victims attended Monday's hearing. Victorino kept his head down during the proceedings. "I wanted to see this. I wanted to see who murdered my daughter," said Kay Shukwit, mother of Nathan. "I want to look at him."

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Now back to the topic everyone cares about.

 

So, what's Madden '05 like? And is Rickey Williams the RB for Miami?...

[Guest Wildbomb 4:20]

My copy is on reserve, one of over 10,000 copies at my local Best Buy. I'll be picking it up in a couple of hours, so I can let you know.

 

--Ryan