Florida father and son charged in murder of 40-year-old man

STUART, Fla. (WEAR) — A father and son duo are behind bars in Martin County in connection to the murder of a Port St. Lucie man.

Richard Neely, 54, is charged with second-degree murder, while his 16-year-old son Dustin Neely is charged as an accessory to murder in the killing of 40-year-old Leodere Verdisca on March 17.

“The victim was stabbed in the chest at least once and apparently died from that injury,” Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said.

Martin County deputies arrived at the area of Cove Rd. and Willoughby Blvd. shortly after a bike rider noticed Verdisca’s body in a shallow pond, deep in the woods.

The victim was identified through tattoos on his arms and personal items that were left nearby, along with DNA testing.

That location is near a homeless encampment, which actually helped in this case.

"The break in this case really occurs when our detectives realize there’s a homeless camp right there by where the body was found, suspecting that it might’ve been a homeless person," the sheriff said. "But it turned out it wasn’t, began interviewing people in the homeless community."

The sheriff says they found two witnesses to the killing in that encampment.

Sheriff Snyder also says investigators do know the motive for the murder: a financial dispute that he says began at the suspects’ house.

“What this case all seems to revolve around is a debt," Sheriff Snyder said. "Our victim owed our suspect some money, I think around $1,000 and was over at the house, ostensibly for a party, and the suspect at that time took it upon himself to exact payment by killing our victim.”

The father and son were taken to the Martin County Jail.

A third person, Randall Todd, was also arrested and charged as an accessory to murder in this case.

ncG1vNJzZmihlJa1sLrEsKpnm5%2BifK%2Bx1qxmp5mknryvedaoqaWcX5uurrXLsmSanpaWtrN5xaWmq6GUlnqnrdOhnKtlkaOxbr%2FOp2ScoJGntKawjKKlZqWlp7GmvoyonWZsYGLGpq3RZqalnF2irq8%3D