Suspect in custody for North Port double homicide after evading police
SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. - Off Mallicoat Road in North Port, neighbors remain in disbelief after a double homicide that happened just before midnight on Thursday.
"It’s absolutely devastating they were amazing people, and they brought the whole neighborhood together," said neighbor Ann-Marie Lidinsky.
The North port Police Department said the bodies of two people were found in the 1200 block of Mallicoat Road.
"There was never any kind of indication that anything was going to happen," said Lidinsky.
Police said they received a call that raised concern. Josh Taylor, the public information officer with the police department, said a neighbor heard some knocking on the door and got scared when she didn't know what was going on.
Taylor said officers found someone wrestling around in a car and fled when police tried to stop them. Police said that person was 21-year-old Dima Tower.
Dima Tower
After taking off, he was forced to stop on I-75, ditched the car and ran into the woods.
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"We put his photo out on social media and to the news and really within a couple of minutes of doing that we started getting tips, and quickly local law enforcement agency an officer with the Venice Police Department was able to located that individual," said Taylor.
Back in North Port, officers collected evidence at the crime scene.
"It is a very gruesome scene It appears from early indications that the individuals inside were stabbed, but that is still yet to be determined," said Taylor.
Neighbors said the two killed were Dima Tower’s adoptive parents. They said his parents adopted him nearly a decade ago from Eastern Europe, and Lidinsky remembers how happy they were.
"They sacrificed a lot of things for him, and they couldn’t have children of their own," she said. "He was adopted, and he was his mom’s world. He was everything to her."
Now their son, sits behind bars, charged with murder.
"It definitely won’t be the same without them," Lidinsky said.