A jilted husband allegedly killed his wife and her suspected lover outside a Florida library \u2014 then disappeared into the ocean while still fully clothed, sparking a days-long manhunt.<\/p>\n
Jesse Scott Ellis, 64, allegedly gunned down his wife of 13 years, Stacie Ellis Mason, and her married colleague, Danny Ooley, in the parking lot of the Indian River County Main Library in Vero Beach on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Jesse Scott Ellis allegedly shot and killed his wife, Stacie Ellis Mason, and her coworker and suspected lover. Facebook<\/p>\n
Mason and Ooley, 56, are believed to have been having an affair, officials with the Vero Beach Police Department said.<\/p>\n
Security footage obtained by the police department showed Mason and Ooley, who were both employed by the Indian River County government, arriving at their local library in separate vehicles. Mason exited her car and climbed into Ooley\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Ellis pulled into the parking lot moments later, armed with an AR-15-style rifle and fired multiple shots at Ooley\u2019s vehicle, Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey recounted during a press conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n Danny Ooley and Mason may have been having an affair, police said. CRYSTAL VANDER WEIT\/TCPALM \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n He assured that Ellis was not a threat to the public, since authorities determined the shooting was a \u201ctargeted marital issue.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a crime of passion, two individuals that were apparently seeing each other for a period of time, and one husband being upset about it and potentially committing the crime that was committed,\u201d Currey said.<\/p>\n Ellis appeared to flee the scene and was later spotted walking into the water, still fully clothed, at the South Beach Park. <\/p>\n A concerned bystander who watched him disappear into the ocean called authorities. When rescuers arrived, they determined that he did not need their assistance and left after he offered what they later learned was a fake name, Currey said.<\/p>\n Ellis and Mason were married for 13 years. Facebook<\/p>\n At the time, the rescuers didn\u2019t know that the man in question was a murder suspect, police added.<\/p>\n Currey noted that it\u2019s possible Ellis drowned himself. Authorities are still searching for him by boat. <\/p>\n Ellis and Mason\u2019s marriage was reportedly on the outs in the months leading up to the double homicide. <\/p>\n The couple, who share children from prior marriages, were \u201cpotentially separating or divorcing\u201d and preparing to sell their home, Currey said. <\/p>\n One of Ellis\u2019 daughters, Kristi, tearfully told NBC News<\/a> that she has \u201cno family\u201d left.<\/p>\n The couple was either separating or divorcing, police said. Facebook<\/p>\n Ooley\u2019s mother, meanwhile, insisted that he \u201cwas not having an affair.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThey were [at the library] checking for a job they were going to be doing,\u201d she told the outlet.<\/p>\n Police discovered that Ellis had \u201cobtained some professional services\u201d and gleaned \u201csome things that were taking place,\u201d but did not elaborate further. <\/p>\n Ellis is wanted<\/a> on two counts of first-degree premeditated murder \u2014 a capital felony that could land him on death row if he\u2019s found alive. Police are holding another press conference<\/a> at 11 a.m. Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A jilted husband allegedly killed his wife and her suspected lover outside a Florida library \u2014 then disappeared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[29025,28,30,29,1109,4538,132,4278],"class_list":{"0":"post-207905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-affairs","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-homicide","13":"tag-murders","14":"tag-police","15":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}