PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — Putnam County Sheriff “Gator” DeLoach on Monday announced an arrest in the murder of 69-year-old Louis Stackhouse, who was found dead in his burned mobile home in March.
DeLoach said that 23-year-old Matthew Daniel Temael, who has been in the Putnam County Jail since April, was notified at 10 a.m. by detectives that he was being charged with first-degree murder in Stackhouse’s death.
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On March 5, deputies and fire/rescue personnel responded to a fire at Stackhouse’s mobile home on Cottonwood Drive in Hawthorne.
Stackhouse’s body was found in the master bathroom of the home.
The Medical Examiner later determined that Stackhouse’s manner of death was homicide. He had been stabbed several times prior to the fire, DeLoach said.
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Investigators discovered that Stackhouse’s 2008 silver Saturn Sky was missing. Temael was found to be driving it in the Tampa area and police there tried to conduct a traffic stop and had to deploy stop sticks to stop the car.
Temael and his passenger, Tatiana Munoz, tried to run away, but both were later taken into custody, transported to the Putnam County Jail, and charged with grand theft auto.
Munoz was later released from jail on bond. She is not currently being charged in Stackhouse’s murder, but DeLoach said investigators are still “taking a really hard look” at her.
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DeLoach also addressed Stackhouse’s past as a registered sex offender, saying that Temael was not one of his victims.
“While I do not condone Mr. Stackhouse’s prior crimes, I cannot allow murderers to roam free,” DeLoach said.
DeLoach said Stackhouse and Temael were acquaintances/friends, but he didn’t want to get into the details of their relationship as the investigation is still active.
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