News Analysis
When police found the remains of wanted killer Jesse Scott Ellis last week, it may have brought some measure of closure to the families of his two victims, but for Riomar residents, there’s still an element of mystery tied to the March 24 double homicide and the manhunt that followed.
Ellis’ badly decomposed corpse was discovered hung from a tree, hidden in dense foliage between two homes in Riomar Bay, one of the most upscale subdivisions on the island. Because salt air slowed the process of decay, it will likely be impossible to pinpoint when Ellis died – and therein lies the mystery.
Ellis, a 64-year-old local electrician, had been married to his wife Stacie Mason for 13 years when he killed her in the main county library parking lot early in the morning. Mason, 49, was a traffic analyst technician employed by Indian River County.
After shooting his wife and the man with her multiple times with an assault-style rifle, Ellis drove his F-150 to South Beach Park, where he was later seen entering the water with his clothes on and swimming far out into the ocean.
Early in the investigation, the day of the murders, police believed Ellis had drowned, perhaps intentionally. Helicopters, ATVs, officers on foot and a cadaver dog combed the beaches from Round Island to Indian River Shores, searching for washed-up remains that were never found.
Later, based on wet, sandy clothes found in Ellis’ abandoned truck and witnesses who saw a man resembling Ellis emerge from the ocean near Reef Ocean Resort and walk south on the beach, police decided that Ellis was likely still alive and possibly on the loose on the barrier island.
In a press conference the day after the killings, Vero Beach Police Chief said that Ellis might still be in the area but assured everyone that the wanted man posed no danger to the public because the double homicide was “a crime of passion” involving a marital dispute. The biggest danger was to law enforcement, that Ellis would be confronted, fight back and die via “suicide by cop.”
It is now known for certain that Ellis did not drown, and that he died some time ago. What isn’t known is when he crossed the island, from the ocean to the riverside, and how long he was lurking in the Riomar area as a hunted fugitive. Did he kill himself the day of the murder, or was it days or even weeks later? Did he hang around, perhaps checking for vacant houses or unlocked doors, or end his life in a matter of hours? Was he armed?
Ellis used his own belt with his initials carved into it to strangle himself, kneeling on the ground and leaning forward, succumbing to asphyxiation. No handgun was found, even though Ellis left an empty holster and pistol magazine in his truck for police to find, along with a journal detailing his recent mental and emotional distress, planting the assumption of suicide in detectives’ minds.
Though a towel and an empty water bottle were found with the body, no evidence of a makeshift campsite was discovered in or near the clump of trees in the 2000 block of Cove Drive.
The lack of available security footage in the quiet Riomar enclave makes it tough for detectives to piece together how and when Ellis moved around the island. Unless residents who live between South Beach Park and Cove Lane find something interesting in their own camera archives, we’ll likely never know how long Jesse Ellis wandered.
The murder of two people in Vero Beach and a multi-agency manhunt on the barrier island were shocking events in a city known for its safety, and a tragedy for family members and friends of the deceased. The positive news now is that Jesse Ellis did not kill again, and his whereabouts are no longer a mystery.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
