A 75-year-old Florida man was found dead of an apparent suicide on Thanksgiving Day after allegedly killing and dismembering another man and placing the severed body parts in the trunk of his car.
Deputies from the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office raced to a home in the area of Poe Street and Eden Drive in Inverness to perform an urgent welfare check Thursday, after getting a call about a possible murder.
When officers arrived, they knocked on the front door and announced themselves, but received no answer, the sheriff’s office said in a press release.
Deputies then began checking the home’s perimeter, the statement said.
In the backyard, they spotted a large butcher-style knife, along with blood and “drag marks” on the ground, the press release revealed.
The deputies continued trying to contact Jonathan Dimick Sr., 75, whom they identified as a suspect in a crime, the statement said.
Deputies entered the home and found Dimick sitting in his living room. He was unresponsive, with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the abdomen.
He was treated at the scene by first responders and then airlifted by a helicopter to a hospital, where he died of his injuries hours later.
Meanwhile, deputies continued their investigation and eventually made a “gruesome” discovery of the dismembered body of 67-year-old James Banks in the trunk of his own car.
“The scene our deputies responded to was absolutely shocking,” Citrus County Sheriff Mike Prendergast said. “It is truly unfortunate that our suspect will never be prosecuted for this brutal crime.”
But Prendergast took solace in knowing that Banks’ family “can begin their grieving process with the knowledge that no one will ever again suffer by the hands of Mr. Dimick.”
The sheriff’s office has not said how Banks may have known Dimick, or when he was killed. No motive for the murder has been released.