VERO BEACH — The Vero Beach Police Department, investigating a second murder in less than a week, announced Tuesday that officers had arrested a man they believe stabbed to death his roommate in their apartment on 18th Street, just west of 7th Avenue.
Authorities arrested Kyle Matthew Fredrickson, 30, of 716 18th Street, after he placed a 911 call at a payphone located at a rest stop on Interstate 95 in Brevard County.
Interim Police Chief David Currey said Fredrickson told authorities that he woke up that morning covered in blood, next to his roommate, who was also covered in blood. He did not tell investigators how or why he had become so covered or why he fled the apartment.
During the course of the interview, detectives developed enough probably cause to arrest Fredrickson on a first degree murder charge.
Chief Currey said the victim, who was identified only as an elderly man born in 1934, had suffered a traumatic head injury with a sharp instrument and classified the cause of death as a stabbing.
He said neighbors had reported they heard arguments from the unit earlier in the day.
News of the death at the apartment complex spread throughout the immediate area as dozens of residents and shoppers at nearby businesses watched crime scene units pull up to the apartment complex.
Joe Miller, a former resident of the complex, said he believed he knew the victim. He said the man was quiet and kept to himself. They would say hi and wave in passing when he lived there.
“Something had to have gone bad,” Miller said, adding that he believes the death on 18th Street and the murder on the barrier island are a sign of the times. “This is what is going to happen” when people don’t have jobs.
Neighbor Sharon Cook, who lives in the building across from the victim said she heard a loud “pop” around Noon just as she was leaving for the bank.
She said she thought perhaps someone had blown a tire and didn’t give the sound much thought.
“He’s a very sweet person,” Cook said of who she believes to be the victim.
