Wet clothes, note, empty holster found in truck of double homicide suspect; warrant issued

VERO BEACH — The hunt continues for a double homicide suspect helped out of the ocean by good Samaritans on Tuesday morning and possibly seen walking in a pixelated, obscured image released by police. The man – who fit the physical description of the gunman – was seen on surveillance video walking south of Riomar Beach after being rescued from the water, police said.

Video provided by Vero Beach Police Department

“We’re not sure where he is right now,” said Vero Beach police Chief David Currey during a Friday news conference. “(The suspect) should be considered a threat to himself and possibly others. Anyone who sees (the suspect) should call 911.”

IMAGE PROVIDED BY VERO BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT

Officials late Thursday issued a warrant for two counts of first-degree premediated murder for the suspect, 64-year-old Jesse Scott Ellis, who is suspected of killing two veteran county employees in a library parking lot earlier this week. Police said the shooting stemmed from reports of an affair between Ellis’ wife, Stacie E. Mason, and her co-worker Danny Ooley, who both worked for the Indian River County Public Works Department.

Several law enforcement agencies continued to search for Ellis on Friday. Currey said Ellis has not had contact with his family or friends since the deadly shooting.

Multiple items belonging to Ellis – including wet shorts and a wet shirt, an empty holster, a .380-caliber magazine, along with a wallet – were found in his Ford F-150 pickup, police said. Officers also found Ellis’ driver’s license, credit cards and passport as they searched the pickup after it was towed to the Vero Beach Police Department.

“”He has nothing. We have everything,” Currey said. “There’s been no activity on his credit cards. He’s flagged at any airport with homeland security. He has no resources.”

Currey said Ellis left behind a number of documents – with some several pages long – in his truck indicating he wanted to harm himself and Mason. The documents date back to early March.

In the documents, Ellis said he “wanted to crawl in a hole” and that he “can’t eat, can’t drink, can’t sleep,” Currey said. Currey said Ellis also wrote down bank account numbers for his children on one of the notes.

Currey had one message for Ellis: “Turn yourself in safely.”

Jesse Scott Ellis PHOTO PROVIDED BY VERO BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT

A number of agencies are working the high-profile case, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, the Vero Beach and Sebastian police departments, Indian River County and Brevard County sheriff’s offices, Indian River Shores Public Safety Department, U.S. Coast Guard, Indian River County Fire Rescue and U.S. Marshalls.

County employees were ‘executed’

Ellis was married to Mason for 13 years. Ooley was also married, police said.

Ellis worked as an electrician for Toussaint Electric in Vero Beach South, while Mason, 49, worked as a traffic analyst technician. The couple, who were in the process of separating and selling their home, lived in southern Indian River County.

Ooley, 56, who worked as the assistant director of public works, lived in Sebastian.

Officers said Ellis fatally shot Mason and Ooley about 7 a.m. Tuesday in the Indian River County Main Library parking lot on suspicion they were having an affair. The library is located at 1600 21st Street, Vero Beach, not far from the Indian River County Courthouse and the downtown area.

Currey said Ellis hired a private investigator – who police have since spoken with – to follow Mason’s and Ooley’s whereabouts.

“Stacie and Jesse had been talking about getting a divorce. He knew she was seeing somebody else. It seems like he wanted to find out who the person was definitively,” Currey said. “That’s why he hired the private investigator.”

Stacie E. Mason PHOTO PROVIDED

Currey said Mason and Ooley drove in separate vehicles into the library’s north parking lot, a location where they had met prior. Mason got out of her black Volkswagen Atlas sports utility vehicle and got in the front passenger seat of Ooley’s silver Ford Ranger.

Moments later, Ellis was seen on surveillance video approaching the truck with an assault rifle-style weapon. Currey said Ellis fired multiple rounds at close range on the driver’s side, then walked to the passenger’s side and continued to shoot.

Both Mason and Ooley were struck several times, Currey said. Ellis left the firearm at the scene of the shooting, police said.

“He executed them,” Currey said. “This was targeted. There was planning and knowledge of what was going on in (Ellis’) wife’s life.”

Currey said detectives recovered 21 shell casings – .223 caliber – at the crime scene.

A Call to 9-1-1

As police responded to the shooting, Ellis drove in his dark grey 2022 Ford F-150 pickup truck to South Beach Park, a detail officers would later discover. A woman spotted a fully clothed man go into the ocean about 7:30 a.m. between the Riomar Country Club and South Beach Park. The woman dialed 911 at 7:58 a.m., Currey said.

“She described a tall, older male that went into the ocean,” Currey previously said. The police chief said Ellis was wearing a pair of long shorts and a dark blue shirt when he entered the water.

Indian River County Fire Rescue crews, unaware of a suspect on the run, conducted a welfare check about 8:30 a.m. on a man who swam about half a mile out into the ocean. Currey said fire crews had no knowledge of a connection to the shooting suspect at the time.

“We knew there was a double shooting at the library, but there was no connection at that point to what (our units) responded to on the beach,” said David Johnson, director of the Indian River County Department of Emergency Services.

Danny Ooley PHOTO PROVIDED

Fire rescue crews took a boat out to the man. Assistant Fire Chief Steve Greer said the man gave a fake name, didn’t appear to be in distress and refused help.

“He said he was okay and that he does this often,” Greer previously said. “He became agitated. Fire rescue crews went back to shore.”

Johnson said Ellis appeared to be “awake and alert.”

That was the last time fire rescue saw the man. The Indian River County Sheriff’s Real Time Crime Center issued a BOLO, or a be-on-the-lookout alert, among local law enforcement agencies shortly before 11 a.m. alerting officials that Ellis was a person of interest in the double homicide, Currey said. 

Meanwhile, the man who swam out into the ocean had drifted further north in the water, inching closer to land.

Currey said good Samaritans near the Reef Ocean Resort helped the swimmer back to shore. The Reef Ocean Resort is a little more than a mile north of Riomar Country Club.

“(Ellis) was coming closer to shore. He said he had a cramp,” according to Currey. “(The good Samaritans) went into the water to help the man. He said he was okay.”

The police chief said surveillance footage captured the man – who fit Ellis’ description – walking on the shoreline about 11:10 a.m. in the 2300 block of Ocean Drive.

The Search for Ellis

Law enforcement used the sheriff’s Flock Safety camera license plate reader system to track the path of Ellis’ pickup.

Police located Ellis’ pickup about 12:45 p.m. at South Beach Park. Officers used a drone to look in the vehicle and discovered it was unoccupied.

“He certainly could’ve made it back to his truck right before we located the truck,” Currey said. The police chief said Ellis left behind a shirt and shorts – both wet and sandy – in his vehicle.

Fire rescue crews then notified police that the man they encountered in the ocean earlier could’ve been Ellis.

Currey said police set up a perimeter in the area and used K-9 dogs, along with drones, to search for Ellis. Several law enforcement agencies scanned the waters for any sign of Ellis.

Officers also searched Ellis’ home and found numerous firearms. Currey said Ellis was an avid hunter.

Police also found Ellis’ phone, with a Post It note attached that had his PIN number written on it, at the residence.

Currey said residents should be aware of a large law enforcement presence on the beachside. Police on Friday had moved the shoreline search further south near the border between Indian River and St. Lucie counties.

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