Murder in Seagrove

I was hearing another guy was involved. Their earlier article seemed to say that too.

The fact that the newspaper has links in the article to the killer's Facebook and MySpace pages is appalling!

 

I just so hate to hear of the beautiful serenity, peacefulness and security of SoWal being compromised by such a brutal act. I was at Cassine Gardens just last week and enjoyed a wonderful week there...perfect weather, paradise as always. I did learn that the police had been contacted by owners because of signs that someone was sleeping in the wooded area behind the pool. I now hear that it's possible that may have been the guy who murdered the young woman. I hope that's not so.......

 

WCSO press conference

[video]http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=c7a139209c5b1543&sid=1AYtWTJq2ZNHGA[/video]






www.facebook.com/pages/DeFuniak-Herald-Beach-Breeze/276530294617

 

A different format of the same video just released by the WCSO.

[video=vimeo;25260093]http://vimeo.com/25260093[/video]

http://www.facebook.com/pages/DeFuniak-Herald-Beach-Breeze/276530294617

 

Very very tragic. My heart goes out to Courtney's family and friends.

 

This is a horrific tragedy and my heart goes out to this young woman's family; we will be arriving for a week's stay in Cassine Gardens tomorrow and have stayed there a few other times in the last few years. We actually have met Theresa a couple of times and she's always been very nice to us; I saw where some were questioning why she didn't call the police about a homeless person being in the pool area rather than just kicking them out. I have to say that I would have done the same thing and if I saw them back, then I'd probably call the police. Again, this is a horrible tragedy.

 

Very very sad.

video
http://www.wtoc.com/Global/story.asp?S=14932911

 

Tragic. Just so sad.

 

I can't even begin to imagine how devastating this has to be for the young girl's family (or even the suspect's family.) So many lives destroyed and so much pain. I hope they are able to get through this tragedy and build some kind of a decent life again. I harbor an entirely different (and much darker) set of hopes for the future of the suspect if he is convicted.

 

I have to say I was heartbroken to read this yesterday. At that point, the suspect hadn't been named and the only information was that he was a 21 yo white male. My son is 21. I wasn't concerned that it was him by any stretch of the imagination but i knew it was probably someone he knew and it spooked the hell out of me. Could it be a friend? a coworker? what kind of monster did this? Is my son friends with him? I had lots of questions. My girls and I just went to PC on Monday to see my 13 yo niece who was vacationing with a friend. We spent all day around the pool and she had her eye on a cute boy there. I thought it was fun and recalled memories of my sister (her mother) and I in our teens on vacation in Daytona. We always met boys, some local...some tourists. It just all seems so innocent and fun and we made lots of friends. I've cried for this girl that took a walk with a boy and now she's gone. I'm worried more than ever about my young nieces who are going to Daytona in a couple of weeks. I know they'll meet people, probably meet lots of boys...but i'm scared for their safety. The young man who did this....how must his mother feel? When i finally talked to my own son yesterday and told him who it was, he did know him but was not friends with him. A sigh of relief...that it wasn't someone with whom he associated. My prayers go out to both families. Such a sad sad few days here.

 

In Sheriff Atkinson's press conference, he says at 9:08, "he(Cozzie) still has Hell to look forward to". Well said Sheriff.

I will pray for this family that lost their daughter and sister.

 

He definitely has had shocking behavior in the past that has left impressions on people. I rode the bus with him for a couple years. He would get into fights (and get suspended from the bus) practically every time he rode it.

The most shocking incident was when he was riding the bus one day and he flipped out at a 7th grade girl who was a student at Seaside riding home on the bus. He is a pretty big guy and he was physically shoving her and had to be physically removed off the bus to get him off of her.

He was definitely someone who would always try to be around younger kids (boys and girls). But it was always in kind of a creepy way.

 

Thank you for the information, I suspected there had to be some violent behavior prior to this. I wonder if the behavior he demonstrated at home (that caused his parents to kick him out) was bad enough that he should have been committed? I am not blaming the parents, just wondering; obviously nothing will bring Courtney back now. My heart goes out to both families. I will pray for strength & peace for the Wilkes family during this difficult & grievous time, and I will also pray for the Cozzie family. I am sure they are going through a horrific time as well. The whole situation is so very sad...

 

Sounds like this is yet another tragedy that could have been avoided if anyone had picked up on one of the many signs and taken action.

That he had a well known history of violence, especially against young women, and nothing was done about it is horrible.

 

Yes, but hindsight is 20-20. He can't be thrown in the slammer - or committed - when according to the law he hasn't (yet) done anything to warrant it. Like, in that Tom Cruise film "Minority Report". I don't think his family, or those who saw him camping out at Cassine, would ever have dreamed that this would happen. If they HAD called the police, except for the trespassing, what would they have said? That he was creepy, had fights on school buses, liked younger girls (ugh)? Unless and until he acts out on it, you can't really exact prior restraint. I guess you just have to hope that his first crime is not murder, but that it is big enough to lock him up for some time. I don't know - I just don't think it can be said that this could have ultimately been prevented with the laws we have in place.

 

You don't need to arrest someone to get them help. Psychiatric care or other action taken after one of the incidents mentioned might have saved this girl's life.

Hindsight is 20/20, but a pair of $3 reading glasses from Wal-mart is sometimes all you need to have 20/20 vision in the present.

 

This is every parent's worst nightmare realized, I can't even begin to imagine what her poor parents are going through.

Does Florida have the death penalty?

 

I was talking to some people over the weekend and predicted that this tragedy was big time bad news for our most well known 'homeless' person who resides under the Bramble walkover. I hope that he is not caught up in the backlash to 'fix things' that commonly occurs after these sorts of events. We need to remain calm and collected and remember that this was probably a failure of many difficult to correct factors, and 'fixing' a problem that had nothing to do with the murder will do nobody good (ie, running off the established homeless when they have done nothing wrong).

 

The flip side is how do we know someone hadn't tried to Baker Act him at some point? It takes a fair amount of mental dysfunction to get involuntarily committed down here, and for all we know someone had tried to get him in the system, but it didn't "take" for whatever reason.