St. Petersburg police say a man is in custody after an 86-year-old man and his family dog were found dead in the Greater Pinellas Point neighborhood earlier this week.
Jason Blythe, 43, was arrested Wednesday in Tampa on a charge of violating probation in an unrelated case out of Tifton County, Georgia, the St. Petersburg Police Department said in a news release Thursday. Pending the completion of an arrest warrant, Blythe will be taken to the Pinellas County Jail on charges of first-degree homicide, animal cruelty and felonious possession of a firearm, the news release states.
The investigation began Tuesday, when police found the man and dog dead in the 5800 block of 11th Street South. Detectives determined that Blythe shot the man and the dog, according to the news release.
“The motive is still unclear, but the victim and the suspect were acquainted,” the news release states.
Police did not release the man’s name because of a new public records exemption to Florida’s Marsy’s Law that took effect Wednesday. The update to the constitutional amendment that passed in 2018 shields the names and identifying information of crime victims.
Blythe was on probation in Georgia for charges of aggravated assault on a peace officer and fleeing and eluding, according to the St. Petersburg Police Department.