JSO Cold Case Unit reopens 10-year-old double homicide case

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has renewed efforts to solve a ten-year-old cold case of two men who were beaten and shot to death inside the home they shared in the Turtle Creek neighborhood.

John Stoner, 41, lived in a multi-family apartment with his wife and children in 2008 when his daughter found him and their friend and roommate, 69-year-old Leonard Davis, shot and beaten to death on March 5.

Stoner's sister, Siobhan Girard, lived in Pennsylvania at the time and flew to Jacksonville the day she learned of her brother's death.

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"I was at work. I got the phone call that he had been killed and I flew right down. I didn’t believe he was dead. I kept on calling his phone," said Girard. "I cleaned up the room. I did. It was a mess. His hand prints were all over the walls. There was pieces of him all over the place."

Detective Ray Reeves with JSO's Cold Case Unit has now taken over the case and believes there are points of interest that can lead to new developments after being re-examined with new technology.

One of the working theories is that the men were killed over drugs. There were at least two persons of interest, likely underage at the time, who were named as suspects.

"It was not uncommon for the young people to hang out over at their apartment," said Reeves. "This was an apartment that Mr. Stoner and Mr. Davis were selling marijuana out of, so that opened up another huge avenue of people of clients as it were to speak with. We’re looking for, in particular, two people to talk to and some physical evidence and some of that proof that we would need to hopefully bring a charge."

Reeves said the apartment had been ransacked and money and a gun were missing.

For Girard, the killings took more than her brother - they also took her peace of mind.

"I don't want this to happen to anybody else and these kids need to get off the streets before they do it again," said Girard.

Cox Media Group