FL - John Parker, 26, & Amber Peck, 26, murdered, Marion County, 3 Jan 2006

spclk

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Anyone hear anything else about this?

http://www.local6.com/news/5912754/detail.html

Authorities in Marion County, Fla., are investigating the discovery of two bodies found in the Ocala National Forest Saturday, according to Local 6 News.


Deputies said they received a report that a family was searching for a missing girl who was believed to be hiking in the Ocala National Forest.


A girl's body and another body were discovered off Highway 19 Saturday.


It was not reported how the pair died.


There was also no confirmation that one of the bodies was the missing girl.
 
And they don't even list the name of the missing girl, or her age.
 
Two college students were found shot to death Saturday morning at a remote campsite in the Ocala National Forest, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said.

Amber Marie Peck and John Parker, both 26 and of Gainesville, had been missing since Wednesday after failing to return from a backpacking and camping trip in the forest, authorities said.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...jan08,0,6113437.story?coll=orl-home-headlines
 
It's scary and amazing that you can't answer your door, go to the mall alone or go camping without worrying about being murdered.
 
"In my 34 years with the sheriff's office, probably one of the most inaccessible crime scenes I’ve ever seen," said Capt. Dennis Strow, Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies said the murder scene is more than two miles off the nearest dirt road, in an area restricted to motorized vehicles and cut off by water that, at times, is waist deep. It’s a crime scene so remote that the medical examiner used a helicopter to fly the bodies out and evidence so difficult to gather, the investigation took seemingly forever to get underway.

"That's what makes this case difficult, because until you start narrowing some of this stuff down, it's kinda hard to come up with a motive," Strow said.

The pair had left their homes near Gainesville on Tuesday on an overnight camping trip. But, by Friday, when they hadn't returned, roommates filed a missing persons report.

By the weekend, with the search focusing on the Juniper Prairie Wilderness Area in the Ocala National Forest, it was family members who made the devastating discovery at their campsite.
http://www.wftv.com/news/5946390/detail.html
 
I'm thinking a greenie, outraged by someone camping in the almost pristine forest.
Maybe they cut wood, or did something else that disturbed the guy and he decided to put a stop to it.
 
mysteriew said:
I'm thinking a greenie, outraged by someone camping in the almost pristine forest.


That was my first thought, too. But then it could have been 'rainbow people' or someone mistaking them for 'rainbow people'. The Rainbows used to camp out in the ONF every year, during winter time, and were mostly disliked by area residents.

Or, could have been a hunting accident, gone from bad to worse. Although local police seem to reject that idea.

Here's the latest I found in print:
http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060109/NEWS/201090348/1001/news01

It certainly is a shame that you can't even go camping, without risking your life. During New Year's in 1981, my sister-in-law's best friend and her husband were murdered in a similar incident, while camping in the Everglades.
 
Rainbow people?!! OMG....we are close to a college town here and I have encountered some of them. All in all, most are harmless but there are some real headcases too. Also, when I worked for the coroner here and there was a suspicious death of a man in their company, they were so difficult. They (some) have hidden fugitives and let them live among them and their children. When I say them and they, etc., I mean the ones I encountered and I definitely don't mean ALL. I mean, I don't care that they grow and smoke their own pot as long as they don't provide children with it and actually most of LE here didn't care either...we were just trying to get the facts in a death, which ended up being an accidental drowning but sheesh getting that info was like pulling teeth. We encountered so many roadblocks and false information that they began threatening arrests.
 
What the heck are rainbow people? I've never heard of them.
 
mysteriew said:
What the heck are rainbow people? I've never heard of them.


hmmm ... first thing that comes to mind, kinda like hippie throw backs from the sixties.
 
Here's the article from yesterday's Gainesville Sun. It's a bit more detailed than most I've seen so far. Nice pix of John, and Amber too.
 
Thanks for the updated links, lostfaith. I am very glad the freakazoid was caught.

One thing I didn't quite get, was that the SP Times said the AK47 was stolen and returned. The Alligator reported that the murderer borrowed the weapon from his uncle's friend and returned it after returing from Ocala.

Also, it seemed strange that the perp traveled from Largo to Ocala specifically to commit the murders. Wonder how he got to Ocala from Largo.

This was such a senseless crime. It saddens me greatly that these two good, young people had to lose their lives because some sociopathic punk set out to murder them, for no reason at all other than because he could.

It floors me how these sociopaths seem to more frequently be revealed to be the youth of our society. What is it with the young people nowadays? There must be some common denominator. There just has to be.

It literally brings me to tears.

ETA: http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060111/LOCAL/201110340/1078

This Gainesville Sun article reports Boatman took a bus to Ocala from St. Pete. Once in Ocala, he bought $391 worth of camping equipment at Walmart (shades of Joseph Duncan). Then he took a cab from Walmart to the forest. The Sun also says the AK47 was stolen, but from his uncle, not the uncle's friend.

Editing to add Ocala Star Banner link which contains a lot of different info. They report the AK as belonging to the uncle's friend and even named him. Also, has a picture of the hero, Joey Tierney, who turned in the tip, resulting in the capture of the perp.
 
Liz, thanks for posting this crime. I read about it on Steve Huff's blog a few days ago (Mysteriew posted that link above)

I was thinking at the time that this was going to be a cold case with little or no news. What a big break that Joey Tierney was observent enought to make a connection to the crime and the monster who he had given a ride to.

Only thing that I can add is possibly Boatman selected the Ocala Forest area because it was a place he could fire a high powered rifle and have it dismissed by witnesses who might hear it as deer hunters.

This is so tragic. I believe this 19 year old would have been capable of many, many murders had he not been stopped. Please lock him up and DON'T LET HIM OUT!!!
 
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, and all that jazz! I hope that everyone has had a wonderful break so far. John sent me an e-mail about a camping trip taking place this Wednesday, 12/28/05. Here's his e-mail:

I'm looking at camping out Wednesday, the 28th. If you could pass that info on to anyone
in the club that might be interested, I would appreciate it. I'll probably
just do an overnighter and hike back out on Thursday sometime. I would like
to hit the trail before noon on Wednesday. that should leave enough time to
set up camp and what not. This place is pretty well out of the way so I
wouldn't bring anything that needs to be refrigerated. usually I keep meals
pretty simple, just a can of chicken tossed into one of those pasta-sides
things from the grocery store, oatmeal, that sort of thing. Steak is do-able
if you pack it out frozen.
This place is near ocala so it's a bit of a drive from Gainesville, about
45 minutes to an hour. If anyone wants to bring alcohol or any other fun
stuff that's cool. It is in a wilderness area that is SUPER off-limits to
hunting so no guns, but I've never seen a ranger or game warden. I've been
out there a million times and there's nothing to worry about. Nobody is
going to get mauled by a bear or anything, and everyone I've ever met on the
trail is really cool.

See you all after the New Year!!!

Amber Peck

[/font]Above is an email from Amber! Her last no doubt. I copied this from Steve Huff blog http://huffcrimeblog.com/

It appear Amber felt safe in the Forest, even mentions that it is off limits for guns and anyone she has met on the trails is really "cool".
 

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