A middle-aged couple in Daytona Beach, Florida were stabbed to death, their throats slashed, as they rode their bicycles home from a Bike Week event over the weekend. On Tuesday, police announced they have a person of interest in the double homicide, and are asking for the public’s help in identifying him.
The pair, 48-year-old Terry Aultman and 55-year-old Brenda Aultman, were locals, Daytona Beach Police Department Chief Jakari Young said in an impromptu news conference, describing the slaying as “probably one of the most vicious and gruesome incidents that I’ve witnessed in my 20 years” on the job.
Shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, cops responded to a 911 call from a man who found the Aultmans lying in a grassy area next to the sidewalk, covered in blood, according to a news release from the City of Daytona Beach.
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“We found two people possibly dead,” the caller told the dispatcher. “And there's blood everywhere.”
Asked why he thought the two were dead, the unidentified caller said, “I mean, they are not moving. I don’t really want to get too close to the situation…It’s a man and a female. Neither one of them are moving. There’s a puddle of blood.”
Paramedics on the scene declared both Aultmans dead “within minutes of the initial 911 call,” the city said.
Young told reporters that officers first thought they were dealing with a hit-and-run accident.
“Upon arrival, once we observed the injuries, we quickly realized this was anything but a hit-and-run and we noticed the multiple stab wounds and that their throats had been slashed,” he explained.
The brutal attack did not appear to be the result of a robbery, since police found “valuables that were left in their possession,” Young explained, adding, “We can’t make heads or tails of it at this time.”
Investigators have had little to go on thus far, as, “No one saw anything, no one heard anything.”
However, a snippet of surveillance video obtained by detectives may hold a clue. In the footage, released Tuesday, a “man of unknown race” wearing light-colored jeans, work boots, red gloves, a gray tank-top, a dark boonie-style hat, and carrying a backpack can be seen walking in the area.
Young said his officers “will leave no stone unturned until we figure out the nexus as to why this happened.”
Daytona Beach's annual Bike Week, the self-described “world’s largest motorcycle event,” began on Friday and will run through March 13.
Three-and-a-half hours before they were killed, the Aultmans posted a cheerful message on Facebook from the Main Street Station, an event venue that was once a working NASCAR garage.
“Omg Robin is so awesome,” Brenda Aultman wrote. “We look forward to seeing her EVERY event!! Music is wonderful at Main Street. It’s the best!!”
Three bands were performing that night as part of the Bike Week festivities, according to Main Street Station’s events calendar: Throwdown Jones, a North Carolina “rock n’ roll party band,” Skin Deep, a five-piece group from Orlando, and Afterlife, an alt-metal outfit from West Palm Beach.
A man who lives next door to the couple told local NBC affiliate WESH that they had been living in their home for about six months.
“They walked to the beach every day,” he said. “It was like their dream house. They bought bicycles. They just bought a Jeep… He was a responsible guy. They even took bicycles because he was drinking. He left his car, left his motorcycle here. Left their car, left their truck here. It is a real shame what happened to them, you know.”
Susanne Odena, who lives down the street from the Aultmans, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal that detectives reviewed video from a security camera on her property but that it hadn’t captured footage of the killings.
The Volusia County Medical Examiner’s office will perform autopsies to determine the precise causes of death. Authorities are asking anyone with any information about the incident to contact Detective Collin Howell at (386) 671-5257 or HowellCollin@DBPD.us, regarding Case 220003866.
