Wednesday, March 28, 2012

DeLand, FL: Former boyfriend charged in murder of woman near DeLand

Volusia County deputies arrested a former boyfriend in connection with the slaying of a 59-year-old woman found dead in her home north of DeLand earlier this month, a sheriff's spokesman said.

Scott Stuut, 24, was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree murder and armed burglary for the March 2 killing of Margaret Gee, sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. Stuut was booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail and held without bail.

Davidson said authorities had been building their case against Stuut since Gee was found dead by her tenants in the bedroom of her Melodie Lane home in the Domingo Reyes subdivision north of DeLand.

A couple who rented out part of Gee's home told investigators they left their 19-month-old son in Gee's care while they went out to dinner. When they came back home, they found Gee on her bed with "signs of fresh trauma to her body," according to an arrest affidavit.

Investigators identified Stuut as a person of interest after the couple said he had been kicked out of the home recently, Davidson said.

When investigators questioned Stuut, he said he was in Gee's neighborhood at the time of her death but did not remember much because he had "blacked out," according to the arrest affidavit.

Stuut later said he had knocked on the door of the Melodie Lane home but no one answered. He said he was dropping off cleaning supplies for the couple who reside in the home but the husband and wife said they had told Stuut they would be gone and didn't ask for cleaning supplies, according to the affidavit.

On Tuesday, Stuut confessed to investigators he killed Gee, Davidson said.

Stuut said he knocked on the front door and no one answered, so he entered the residence through the back door and saw a child sleeping in the dining room and proceeded to Gee's bedroom, Davidson said.

Stuut told sheriff's investigators he attacked Gee and when she fought back, he shot her with a handgun. During the initial investigation, authorities found a bullet hole in the bedroom window, the affidavit shows.

Stuut said he killed Gee because she had been verbally abusive toward him and felt she was responsible for his hardships, the affidavit shows.

Gee was well-known by friends for participating in a medieval role-playing group called Shire of Vaca Del Mar, or cow of the sea, in which members take on different personas and try to re-create the history of the Middle Ages and Renaissance era. The DeLand-based group is sanctioned by the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Stella Fullmer, who serves as the group's leader or seneschal, said she had seen Stuut at the some of the group's meetings but he wasn't an active participant. Gee had previously served as the group's seneschal and was known as Honorable Lady Nekhbet Alexandra Selene, after an Egyptian goddess who was the protector of Upper Egypt and its rulers, Fullmer said.

Fullmer said she wasn't "surprised" Stuut had been charged in the killing.

"Hopefully justice will be done," she said.

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