As more details emerge from the murder case file prosecutors have built against defendants Joseph Milman and Justin Howard, the cast of characters surrounding shooting death of Scott Hyatt on the afternoon of Oct. 19, 2014, keeps getting more and more bizarre.
An intruder shot Hyatt to death inside a house on East Riviera Drive north of Indialantic. The gunman also wounded Robert Mell, who survived. The investigation by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office led to the arrest of Milman and Howard three days after Hyatt died. The motive: money and drugs.
Sheriff’s authorities identified Milman as the shooter, but charged both Milman and Howard with first-degree felony murder, attempted first-degree felony murder and robbery with a firearm – with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon tacked on for Milman.
But a third person ended up arrested on Nov. 4, charged with accessory after the fact for first-degree felony murder and tampering with evidence. The then-15 year-old girl turned up in the wrong place, dating the wrong boy at the wrong time. Faced with the possibility of a criminal record and time in the juvenile detention facility, the teenager agreed to testify against both men at the trial.
Talk about scared straight. According to agents, the incident shook the teenager to her core.
On Oct. 21, agent Colin Kearns stopped Howard at a traffic stop on Canterbury Drive. Howard and the teenage girl he’d been dating for about 18 months were handcuffed and placed in a patrol car where officers turned on the in-car video to record any conversation. Their talk did not reveal anything of interest.
Upon arrival at the Criminal Investigation Services building, the girl was separated from Howard. Agent Nicholas Walker read her the Miranda rights before asking what she knew about Milman. She said she met the man through Jeremy Morelli, a mutual friend of Howard’s.
“I stopped the interview and confronted (juvenile’s name withheld) with the gravity of the moment and advised her this was neither the time nor the place to be anything less than truthful,” Walker said.
According to investigation records, the teenager told Walker she disposed of a black backpack containing bloody clothes, a story confirmed by Howard.
She also told agent Marlon Buggs the day of the shooting she was at Howard’s house with a friend when Milman ran through the backyard saying he had to leave town because he did something bad. She heard Milman say he took $40 and a full bottle of pills from Hyatt. He gave $25 and eight Dilaudid pills to Howard before leaving. She heard Milman say he did not like Hyatt or Mell.
But according to police records, she never saw the gun even though she knew Howard had access to a black handgun with two wooden handles.
In a second interview on Oct. 22, the teenager named the backpack brand, and remembered a mask inside the backpack. Milman allegedly wore a mask during the crime. The teen turned herself in Nov. 4 to face charges levied by the sheriff’s office and has fully cooperated with the investigation. In exchange for her testimony in the upcoming trials, Milman on Aug. 7 and Howard in November, the teenager received 100 community service hours, plus probation – with stipulations for even the most minor infraction – until her 19th birthday.
