Port St. John, FL: Cops: Man likely killed girlfriend, self over breakup

Sheriff’s investigators say a Port St. John man killed his girlfriend and then himself, possibly because she was going to leave him.

The bodies of Glenn Laughlin, 57, and Robin Ainsworth, 47, were found in their home at 7271 Achilles Road Friday morning. Ainsworth’s bags were packed, said Lt. Tod Goodyear, spokesman for Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.

“From what we understand, they had been having problems recently,” he said.
“The scene appeared to be that she was in the process of leaving him. It looks like he shot and killed her and then turned the gun on himself.”

Neighbor Robert Scarboro told Channel 13 that he had no notice that the couple was going on vacation and “I just had a bad feeling about it.”

Scarboro called the sheriff’s department, whose investigators found the back door of the couple’s home unlocked and discovered the bodies.

Family members, though, said Ainsworth’s bags were packed because she was supposed to travel to New Hampshire this weekend for a niece’s wedding. She and Laughlin had been together more than 30 years and had a son, Johnathan, who passed away years ago, said another niece, April Driesse of Manchester, N.H.

Ainsworth’s mother, Rita Ainsworth, is a Titusville resident, and her sister, Rita Lindbloom, lives in Cocoa.

“Glenn lost his father recently, and his mother in recent years,” Driesse, Lindbloom’s daughter, told FLORIDA TODAY via Facebook.

“No one truly knows what went on, or why things happened the way they did. My Aunt Robin was one of the kindest people you would have ever known. She had a big heart. She loved animals and loved making people smile. My mom and Nana were her best friends. She was close to her family. She was supposed to be on the plane and at my sister’s wedding today. But instead, this happened. We’re really all in a state of shock still. We all miss her very much and love her and wish things were different. This is really just very hard on us.”

The home is in the same neighborhood where Tonya Thomas, a Port St. John woman, killed her four children and herself May 15. The week before those deaths, another shooting in Port St. John left one man dead and another critically wounded.

Still, the sheriff’s department has not had a lot of major cases in that area, no more than any other neighborhood, Goodyear said.

“You really can’t predict these domestic situations,” he said. “Here, one person decided they were going to end the relationship, and the other was not willing to let them go.”