A teenager from Belize has been charged with murdering three people — including his pregnant cousin — in an "extremely violent" attack in Florida, officials said Thursday.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office said deputies responding to a medical assistance call on Tuesday found three dead bodies inside a home in Lehigh Acres, about 12 miles east of Fort Myers. An 18-month-old child was found alive.
The deceased — identified as 37-year-old Dorla Pitts, her pregnant 17-year-old daughter Starlett Pitts and the girl’s boyfriend Michael Kelly Jr., 19 — had suffered "repeated, sharp force trauma," according to the sheriff’s Office.
It said that while processing the “extremely violent” and bloody crime scene, detectives learned that 19-year old Brian Omar Hyde had been pulled over by Fort Myers police for driving on the wrong side of the road.
Hyde was in a white Range Rover registered to the same address as the crime scene and had "visible blood" on his pants and shoes, the sheriff's office said.
The 19-year-old — Dorla Pitts' nephew — was arrested for driving without a license and later charged with murder after investigators found more evidence linking him to the scene.
The sheriff's office said that a bloody palm print at the crime scene was a match for Hyde and that investigators believe Dorla Pitt walked in as the attack was in progress because her husband told detectives he was on the phone with her when she screamed "Brian! What happened here!" before the line went dead.
Hyde — who officials say illegally entered the United States from Belize about seven months ago — is facing three counts of second degree murder and one count of killing an unborn child by injury to the mother.