Laralee Spear, 15, in her freshman year at Deland High School, is over the moon after learning she has made the Junior Varsity cheer squad. Many other hobbies keep her busy--piano lessons, church choir practice, and volunteering with the Keyettes, a school service organization. Spear’s daily routine is to walk home from her bus stop on the corner of Deerfoot Rd and South Spring Garden. The ½ mile walk usually takes about 10 minutes. Laralee always meets her mother at home by 3:30, even if she stops to watch the neighbor’s horses. When Laralee is half an hour late, Barbara Spear calls 911 in a panic, reporting her daughter missing.
Just 16 minutes after Barbara Spear reports 15-year-old Laralee missing, Volusia County Sheriff investigators are on the ground searching for the teen. Air One, the Sheriff’s helicopter, is already in the air, and scanning the neighborhood for Laralee. At 5:35 PM, the pilot spots a body, behind an abandoned home. A quarter mile from the Spear home, officers on the ground find Laralee Spear lying crumpled on a concrete slab behind the burned-out home, shot to death.
Laralee Spear is found lying in a pool of her own blood, shot in the back of the head three times. Spear’s hands had been tied together and much of her clothing is missing or torn away. Spear has bruising across her body, leading investigators to believe she was beaten. It appears Spear’s attacker attempted to sexually assault her, and the teen fought back in her final moments. Remnants of Spear’s clothing are found scattered along Deerfoot Road in the days after her death.
Detectives believe Laralee only made it about 200 yards from the bus stop when she was attacked and abducted. They estimate Laralee was dead within 25 minutes of getting off the bus. Officers from the Ormond Beach Police Department join Volusia County Sheriffs to canvass Spear’s neighborhood for a week. Over 1,000 tips are collected in the month following Laralee’s murder, and police learn a group of people were hanging out and shooting guns at the burned down home where the body is found. Neighbors also report seeing a dark-colored truck near the crime scene.
Who killed Laralee?
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