VERO BEACH — Det. Bradley Kmetz said he’s sometimes ridiculed by classmates for sticking around Vero after college to work for the Vero Beach Police Department instead of venturing out into the wide world. But when a heinous crime like the death of Diana Duve darkens his hometown – on his turf, and on his watch – it hits Kmetz deeply and personally.
Duve’s death in late June was the first homicide case that the 30-year-old detective had caught since joining the force in 2007. Kmetz was on call when a terrified mother begged police to help find her 26-year-old daughter. He recalls the 72 hours he and his colleagues worked ‘round the clock to try to find the Sebastian River Medical Center nurse – and her boyfriend, accused killer Michael David Jones.
“When we started to find the pings from the cell phones, we were working back-to-back shifts,” Kmetz said, noting that things were changing very rapidly in the case, as the locator pings led Melbourne police to Duve’s car ditched in a parking lot.” You don’t know what you’re going to find.”
As the father of one school-age daughter with a second baby girl due in April, Kmetz said he empathized intensely with the plight of Moorings residents Bill and Lena Andrews as the tense minutes and hours ticked away with no sign of or word from their only daughter. “It’s a very sad case,” he said. “I did not want to give up on Diana or her family.”
No resources were spared during that exhausting weekend in June, when Chief David Currey said he directed officers to invest “whatever it takes to get the job done.”
Driven at first by sheer adrenaline and by grave concern for Duve’s safety when there was hope of finding her alive, detectives’ motivations shifted to anger, disgust and the desire for justice when the case turned into a murder investigation. Throughout the pursuit – from Vero where Duve was last seen, to Melbourne where her car was dumped, to Fort Pierce where officers hauled Jones out of his hotel hideout in handcuffs – Kmetz said his team was fortified by their solemn duty to protect and advocate for victims of violent crime.
“The biggest thing when you work a homicide case is that you want the victim to have a voice, even though they’re not there to have a voice,” Kmetz said. “No matter what type of case it is, victims always have a say.”
Kmetz’ supervisor, Lt. Matt Harrelson, who heads up Vero’s Detective Division, said it was Kmetz’ tenacity that solved the case and put Jones behind bars. “Homicide cases are unique in the fact that although we never get to speak to the victim, we are able to learn who they are through friends and family. It is easy to become emotionally involved when hearing about happy times the victim shared with loved ones and these stories only serve as fuel to push harder and to strive toward apprehension and ultimate conviction of the suspect,” he said.
Jones was initially arrested on violation of probation related to a 2012 Broward County case of aggravated stalking, but since has been indicted by a Grand Jury for the first-degree murder of Duve. He is being held without bond in the Broward County Jail awaiting trial on violation of probation and felony battery before facing an Indian River County jury for Duve’s murder. If found guilty, Jones could face the death penalty.
Ferreting out complex, sensitive and sometimes disturbing information from multiple sources is what built the more than 2,000 pages of evidence, plus photographs and video now on file in the case against Jones. Some of those sources were victims themselves – former girlfriends of Jones who themselves had been threatened, harassed and abused. Kmetz said his approach to coaxing witnesses and victims to talk is simple. “Our job is to get them to not be afraid, and to give them the confidence to talk to us and to protect themselves. It’s about trust and having someone you’re comfortable enough with to talk to,” Kmetz said. “You’ve just got to be genuine, and people can feel that you’re being genuine.”
Last month at the Law Enforcement Awards Ceremony banquet, members of the Indian River County Victims’ Rights Coalition honored Kmetz, along with other local law enforcement personnel, with the Victim Services Award for his work on the Duve case and another homicide.
It was the inaugural year for the award. Organizer Paul Zelno, a former Vero Beach reserve police officer whose wife was slain by a drunk driver in 2007, said the award formally recognizes the year-round work of police, volunteers and court officials. Zelno said his inspiration for the award was then-Florida Highway Patrol Captain Deryl Loar (prior to being elected Sheriff in 2008), who investigated his wife’s traffic death and served as a strong advocate in her case. Zelno, who frequently speaks to civic groups and to offenders in rehabilitation programs, said the Coalition’s other big project is the 24th annual vigil for victims of crime on Vero’s Memorial Island during National Victims of Crime Month coming up in April.
Harrelson nominated Kmetz for the Victim Services award, saying, “I can think of no one I would rather have speaking and fighting for one of my loved ones, or even for myself, than Det. Brad Kmetz.”
“Our primary job as law enforcement officers surrounds the rights and the needs of those who are victimized in our society. Many times, the victim is either too scared to speak, or in the worst-case scenario is no longer around to voice their story,” the nomination continued. “It is in situations like these that police officers, and especially detectives investigating crimes against people, that the only voice the victim has is us. In situations like these, it is imperative that whoever responds to the case can handle such a large responsibility.”
Harrelson describes Kmetz as determined, persistent, professional and untiring, “But most of all he was compassionate when he was dealing with the family and friends of victims who lost their life,” he wrote, also commending Kmetz’ wife Chelsea for abiding her husband’s long hours, late-night calls out and times he couldn’t be with his family.
Historically, Vero Beach takes pride in the training and education of its officers, and Kmetz is a prime example of the talent Vero’s police force attracts. After graduating from Vero Beach High School in 2002, Kmetz earned degrees from then-Indian River Community College and Florida Atlantic University in criminal justice. Then, while attending the police academy, Kmetz simultaneously pursued a master’s degree in criminology from St. Leo University, which he achieved in 2009, the same year he was promoted to the rank of Detective in Vero’s drug crimes unit.
Despite even that advanced training, Harrelson said, “His skills were tested this past year as he had to investigate two homicides during a three-month span along with the many other cases assigned to him on a daily basis.”
As he mentally re-visited the Duve murder investigation, which still lies open in his mind and on his desk as it moves toward eventual trial, Kmetz himself admitted, “I gave everything I had to that case, and I still think about it and what I could have done better.”
In accepting the award, Kmetz said he really represented the whole of the Vero Beach Police Department in what was truly a team effort. Though every needed resource was focused on the Duve case, Kmetz was the Case Agent, which is the police equivalent of a project manager. It was his job to obtain search warrants and draft the arrest affidavits, to manage all the paperwork, to identify people to interview and tasks to delegate.
“Everybody gets involved in a homicide case. On a massive case like this, it’s just too much for one person,” Kmetz said. “We’re like a family in the Detective Division, you really, truly feel like family here.”
Kmetz said all his fellow detectives took some of the workload, with someone tracking down bank records and surveillance footage. Others interviewed bartenders, Duve’s friends and Jones’ co-workers at PNC Wealth Management on Ocean Drive. Crime scene technicians collected and processed evidence. This not only moved the case along, but also multiplied the analytical heads in the game when detectives would circle back around to review the status of the case.
Amid all this activity, Kmetz had to make sure that Diana’s family got every scrap of news firsthand so they did not hear or read hear something that they didn’t already know. “Everything was treated with kid gloves when it comes to the information, everything is decided on a case-by-case basis.”
Chief Currey fielded media inquiries, held press conferences and handled one of the most sensitive jobs himself. “Just about every contact we made with Diana Duve’s family, I did personally. I would drive to their home or meet them somewhere, even if it meant getting up out of bed in the middle of the night,” Currey said. “It was the least I could do for them.”
Capt. Kevin Martin, a career officer who is now second in command of the department has an interesting perspective on why advocating for the victims of crime is so tantamount to police work.
“It’s your job, your priority. Your first responsibility is to the victim,” Martin said. “If you weren’t able to prevent it, it’s your job to do whatever you can for the victim.”
