A grand jury handed up 15 felony counts Monday for each of the four men suspected of the brutal Deltona murders, including charges they abused the dead victims.
The indictment brings to light more details of what the sheriff has called Volusia County's most gruesome crime scene.
State Attorney John Tanner said he would seek the death penalty and would personally prosecute the case.
"They were indicted together," Tanner said. "We intend to try them together."
The grand jury was needed because the State Attorney's Office cannot charge individuals with first-degree murder without seeking an indictment. Prior to the court hearing, a panel of homicide prosecutors reviewed evidence and decided to seek the death penalty.
The mother of one of the victims was shocked to hear the grand jury delivered so many charges. She was ready Monday afternoon to give her husband the first bit of good news in two weeks.
"I want to know which one of them killed my daughter," said Kay Shukwit, mother of victim Michelle Ann Nathan. "I hate them all."
The scene of the Aug. 6 killing was the worst Sheriff Ben Johnson could recall in Volusia County. Six friends -- Nathan, 19, Anthony Vega, 34, Erin Belanger, 22, Francisco Ayo Roman, 30, Roberto "Tito" Gonzalez, 28, and Jonathan Gleason, 17 -- were found beaten by aluminum baseball bats in a blood-soaked three-bedroom home. The new charges indicate the victims' throats were cut and one was singled out with sexual abuse.
The "ringleader," Troy Victorino, 27, and three 18-year-olds -- Michael Salas, Robert Cannon and Jerone Hunter -- face a slew of charges that include:
· Six counts of capital first-degree murder.
· Six counts of abuse of a dead human body with a weapon.
· One count each of armed burglary, cruelty to animals and conspiracy to commit murder, armed burglary of a dwelling and tampering with physical evidence.
The indictment, presented to Circuit Judge S. James Foxman, stated the four men began planning the attack two days before breaking down the front door of the Telford Lane home. Investigators say the six victims and a dog named George died about 1 a.m. on Aug. 6.
The indictment also states all of the victims were "mutilated" or "grossly abused" after their death and suffered cuts to their body or neck. Erin Belanger also was sexually abused with a baseball bat, according to the charges.
Investigators say the attack was fueled by a misunderstanding between Belanger and Victorino, who had been unlawfully living in her grandmother's Providence Boulevard home. Belanger had packed up and removed several of the personal items belonging to Victorino -- including an Xbox video game system.
Shukwit said she had not been told abuse charges would be filed. She said investigators had not revealed many details about her daughter's death, except that she died of "blunt force trauma."
Shukwit said her daughter, Amber, viewed Michelle's body before burial and said it looked as if Michelle had suffered cigarette burns on her hand.
The four also were charged with cruelty to animals for stomping or striking the snout of George -- a brown dachshund that belonged to Belanger.
Defense attorneys have said the four cannot receive a fair trial in Central Florida because of intense media coverage and public outcry for the death penalty.
James Dowdy, a Winter Springs attorney appointed to represent Victorino, said he will ask the judge to move the trial to another county.
He also believes the defendants might need to be separated for trial because investigators have said the three younger men have already confessed to the slayings. But Victorino has not.
The mass murder has gained national and worldwide attention. A battle of finger-pointing ensued between state and county officials after the public learned Victorino should have been jailed for violating his probation from a 1996 aggravated battery case. He was recently charged with punching a man in late July.
In light of the judicial system breakdown, four probation officers were fired and state officials ordered the quick arrest of anyone who has committed a felony while on probation.
Shukwit said she feared the defendants would walk out of jail again. Three of them are in the Volusia County Branch Jail while Victorino is held in the Seminole County jail. None of the defendants is entitled to bail.
"They messed up so many times in the past," she said of the judicial system. "I was just afraid."
kristen.moczynski@news-jrnl.com