Two more charged with Stock Island homicide

Two more charged with Stock Island homicide

Two more men have been arrested in connection with a murder that took place on Laurel Avenue, Stock Island last Friday. A third suspect, 49 year old Rory Wilson, was already in jail, arrested in the early morning hours for his part in the crime.

Wednesday evening, Major Crimes detectives arrested 46 year old Franklin Tucker of Key West and 39 year old John Johnson of Marathon for their parts in the stabbing death of victim Mathew Bonnett and the armed robbery and knife injuries to victim Paula Belmonte.

Investigations into the crimes revealed the three men planned the robbery after hearing there might be a large amount of cash at Belmonte’s home.  Johnson drove the two other men to the scene of the murder in his black truck and waited for them outside. Tucker and Wilson, dressed in black and wearing masks on their faces, went inside. They held Belmonte and a male friend who was visiting her at knifepoint. During the course of the robbery, Belmonte’s neck was slashed. Tucker and Wilson fled the residence and encountered  Bonnett on the stairs. They got into an altercation with him during which Bonnett was stabbed multiple times. He later died of his injuries.

In the meantime, Johnson, who was sitting in his truck outside, saw someone running from the residence yelling “Police, police”. At that point  he decided not to wait any longer and he took off.

Detectives followed up on numerous leads in the case and they credit tips to  Crime Stoppers as instrumental in their investigation.

Tucker has been charged with two counts of armed robbery, one count of felony murder, two counts of wearing a mask while committing a felony, three counts of aggravated battery and with tampering with a witness. Following the crime, Tucker allegedly threatened someone who was cooperating with detectives in their investigation, which led to the tampering charge. Johnson has been charged with two counts of robbery and with felony murder.

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