GUILTY FL - Three people found murdered at Lake Worth home, 29 Aug 2009

KaylynnCouture

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LAKE WORTH, Fla. — Palm Beach County deputies are investigating after the bodies of two women and a man were found inside a south Florida home.

Authorities say the shooter knocked on the door of the Lake Worth home belonging to the female victims around 4:30 a.m. Saturday and a fight ensued. All three victims were fatally shot.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said the two women, ages 23 and 29, were pronounced dead at the scene. A 23-year-old man who did not live at the home died later at a hospital. The victims were not identified.

Authorities do not believe the shooting was gang related. They have identified a suspect and are searching for him.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,544324,00.html?test=latestnews
 
my goodness! I was just reading about the shootings in Georgia as well! What is going on?
 
Two of the victims, Debbie Sears, 23, and Yamika Murphy, 29, were shot dead. Ronald Anthony Wright, 23, was airlifted to Delray Medical Center, where he later died.

Sears was found dead in front of her home at 1424 S. D Street. Murphy and Wright were found near a neighbor's house, apparently trying to run away from the shooter. Wright, who lived in Boynton Beach, was a friend of the women. The shooting was carried out while the women's roommates were inside the home, just a few feet away.

Detectives were searching for Bruce Strachan, who is Murphy's estranged husband, according to a release from the sheriff's office.

Strachan, 25, has an extensive criminal history, authorities said. He has been in prison at least twice, most recently in 2007 and 2008 for resisting an officer with violence, according to Department of Corrections records. He is described as being 5-foot-10, weighing 173 pounds and having tattoos on both arms.


He is known to frequent the Lake Worth, Boynton Beach and Delray Beach areas, the sheriff's office said.

Strachan is considered armed and dangerous, the sheriff's office said.

"We don't know what he'll do or what he is capable of," said sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera.

Much more information at link: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/08/29/0829lwshoot.html
 
Sears' home:

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Police are still searching for the suspect: Family says he had made threats prior to the murders

Yamika Murphy lived in fear of her estranged husband, a man so violent and unstable that he threatened to kill his own nieces just to get to her, Murphy's family said Sunday.

He had caught her once before, in July, and held her and a friend at gunpoint in a house at 1424 South D St. in Lake Worth, said Murphy's sister, Stevenir Murphy. Early Saturday, still on the run after the July incident, Bruce Strachan, 25, stole up on Murphy, 29, and two friends as they returned to the same house, according to Stevenir Murphy and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. He leveled a rifle and fatally shot all three, committing the city's second triple homicide since 2007, the sheriff's office said.
After Strachan took Murphy hostage in July, a situation that ended only after Murphy's friend ran for help, Murphy went on the run. She stayed with friends and tried to scrape up enough money to flee the state, her sister said.

On Saturday, Murphy, tired of running and feeling secure in the company of her longtime friends, returned to her house about 4:30 a.m. after a long night out.

"He was hiding in the bushes that night, waiting on her to get home," Stevenir Murphy said.

Strachan shot Johnson through the chest and chased Wright and Murphy to a yard next door, where he shot them down before disappearing into the night, authorities said.

Much more at link: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/08/30/0830lwshootfolo.html

The fact that he was hiding in the bushes leads me to believe this was premeditated (in other words, he didn't show up at the house for another reason and a fight ensued, leading to the murders) which makes this all the more disturbing. This poor woman lived in fear of this man who ultimately ended up killing her and two innocent friends.

This is so sad :( I really hope police find this monster soon.
 
I love my children but I'm not blind. I learned a long time ago to say I hope they wouldn't do that and not to say they would NEVER do that.
 
Suspect arrested and in court today

A man accused of killing three people in Lake Worth made his first court appearance this morning after being tracked down by law enforcement officials Monday night.

A judge ordered Bruce Strachan, 25, held in jail without bond as he awaited trial on charges of gunning down his estranged wife and two others outside a house in southwestern Lake Worth early Saturday morning.

Talking later to reporters, Strachan maintained her son's innocence, claiming he had spent the night with her and with other friends.

"It will come out that he didn't have anything to do with it," she said. "Bruce loved Yamika and Yamika loved Bruce."

More at link, including photos of the victims: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/09/01/0901strachan.html
 
Did I read that wrong though, she had attempted murder charges on her for trying to kill an ex boyfriend, is that the man that killed her? i'm so confused.
 
Did I read that wrong though, she had attempted murder charges on her for trying to kill an ex boyfriend, is that the man that killed her? i'm so confused.

Yeah, apparently in 2007 the victim had a charge for attempted murder on an ex-boyfriend. I'm not sure if that was the suspect though. You read it right though.
 
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/crime-law/murderer-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-now-on-trial-/nf7t7/

A man who barely escaped a death sentence last year for the murders of his estranged wife and two of her friends is back in court today to stand trial in connection with a robbery that occurred a month before the killings.

A jury last year spared Bruce Strachan from the death penalty and instead sentenced him to life in prison for the 2009 murders of Yamika Murphy and two of her friends outside her Lake Worth apartment.
 
Wow. If he'd have been charged and held for that alleged armed robbery straight away, it seems like the murders might have been avoided? I wonder why no arrest or charges were made for a month back in 2009, leaving him free to go on and kill the people he's alleged to have robbed?
 

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