ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Deputies captured the suspected killer in a brutal Orange County murder Thursday afternoon hiding in a muddy pond. Investigators believe the elderly victim, 79-year-old Hugh Edwards, was beaten with a baseball bat by his neighbor and another man because they thought he was a sex offender, but they were wrong.
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Deputies arrested the man in the woods near the victim's house on 5th Avenue in Bithlo. It took a team of deputies with dogs hours to catch him. The massive manhunt lead sheriff's investigators to 20-year-old Robert Pascale.
"Get that camera out of my face, bro," Pascale said to WFTV.
Robert Pascale yelled to get the cameras (images | raw video) out of his face as investigators hauled him off to jail. His face and clothes were muddy.
Pascale initially denied any involvement in Edwards death. But moments later, he confessed to Eyewitness News.
"I hit him twice with a bat. That was it," Pascale said. Then he said why. "Because my uncle molested me."
Michael Garay 051310 Michael Garay Officers had already arrested another man in connection to the murder. Michael Garay, 32, was arrested late Wednesday night and booked into the jail Thursday morning.
Investigators found out the other murder suspect, Pascale, was at a home and just missed him by second as he took off into the woods. Michael Tevyaw said Pascale had been hanging out at his house since Wednesday night. He said he didn't know Pascale was wanted, but when deputies rolled up Pascale took off.
"Cops rolled up here, told us to get on the ground," Tevyaw said. "Ran through the house, through the back gate over here ... gone!"
Investigators said Pascale was tracked by a K-9 and his handler and was found in a muddy pond near 6th Street and 10th Street (see map) with only his face exposed for air. Charges charges are pending for Pascale.
Pascale and 32-year-old Michael Garay, investigators say, were involved in the murder of 79-year-old Hugh Edwards on Wednesday. Edwards was found beaten with a baseball bat.
"I've cried for two days, because the guy over there was a real sweetheart," neighbor Rhonda Baker said.
All of it started because people in the community thought the victim was a sex offender, but it turns out he doesn't even have a criminal history. People started talking and, investigators said, Pascale and Garay were drinking and then went to the victim's house with a bat.
"That's the reason he did this, was they thought he was sex offender," Baker said.
Garay claims he never went inside and was arrested for accessory, but that Pascale beat Edwards to death.
No one at Pascale's mom's house wanted to talk.
"I'm telling you, you're not going to film this house, bro," someone outside the home told WFTV.
Witnesses say the suspects changed clothes and then later dumped the murder weapon in a nearby pond; investigators said they recovered the bat used in the beating. Pascale then went on the run, which ended Thursday afternoon.
WFTV found both men have extensive criminal histories.
Garay was arrested the first time when he was 15 for battery on an elderly person.
Pascale is younger, but his first arrest came when he was 14. Most of his arrests are for burglaries, but has been arrested for battery and robbery.
Previous Stories: May 13, 2010: Cops: Man Killed Was Mistaken For Sexual Predator
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