VERO BEACH — The elderly man found dead in his apartment on 18th Street suffered multiple stab wounds, according to the Vero Beach Police Department. The victim’s identity has not yet been released, pending notification of his next of kin.
Preliminary information received from the Office of the Medical Examiner District 19 in Fort Pierce indicates that the victim died of multiple injuries.
Crime scene units from the Vero Beach Police Department and Indian River County Sheriff’s Office remain on the scene at 716 18th Street Vero Beach gathering evidence.
Investigators do not know how long these units will remain at that location.
According to the arrest report, suspect 30-year-old Kyle Fredrickson called 911 from a pay phone at a rest stop on Interstate 95 in Brevard County at 12:37 p.m. Tuesday and told dispatchers he woke up two hours previously and he and his roommate – whom he identified as Chung Kim – were covered in blood and that Kim was dead. Fredrickson told dispatchers he “freaked out and left” the apartment and drove Kim’s vehicle to the rest area.
Authorities responded to the apartment and discovered a dead male in the bathroom with multiple stab wounds to the head and two stabs to the chest.
Fredrickson told authorities that he had gone on a drug and alcohol binge Monday night and did not remember anything from that night.
He told investigators that he had taken multiple oxycodone pills, smoked marijuana and had several drinks of alcohol. He said he blacked out.
Fredrickson told investigators he woke up next to Kim with a knife in his hand, but didn’t remember where he had gotten.
During an interview, an agent told Fredrickson, “A minute ago, you said you did it.”
“I did it,” Fredrickson replied, according to the arrest affidavit. “I woke up next to the body with a knife in my hand. How could I have not done it? I have blood and scratches all over my arms. I have no idea where they came from. It was only him and I that live there.”
Fredrickson said he and Kim knew each other for 10 or 15 years and he was friends with the family. He said he had been living with Kim for three or four weeks and that he was paying the electricity and cable bill.
Fredrickson described his roommate as a “generous man,” according to the arrest affidavit.