ORLANDO, Fla. — The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office said Daniel Otte, a man tried twice and acquitted in the murder of cab driver Joseph Lavair in 1987, remains the “correct suspect” — even after another man confessed to the crime.
The agency, which issued its statement after the Orlando Sentinel published a story highlighting the case, said there is “no credible evidence” linking Lavair’s murder to Jeremy Scott, who is currently serving a life sentence for an unrelated killing.
In October 2021, Scott took responsibility for the murder in an interview with Gilbert King, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who at the time was working on a podcast series focused on the murder of Michelle Schofield, whom Scott said he also killed.
The Sentinel worked with King for over a year to reexamine Lavair’s murder and King’s findings, which he said he presented to the Sheriff’s Office, but “had kind of been blown off” when he followed up with them.
The Sheriff’s Office confirmed the meeting with King in its statement while saying detectives gave the case another look.
“After a careful review, we did not find any facts to substantiate the claim that Jeremy Scott was the killer,” the unsigned statement read. “We believe, based on the evidence, Daniel Otte is and was the correct suspect.”
Records on Lavair’s murder obtained by the Sentinel months after King met with detectives made no mention of a renewed investigation into the matter. The newspaper submitted a request Wednesday for documents reflecting that review. The agency didn’t immediately respond to questions about it.
On April 10, 1987, Lavair was shot three times and left to die on the side of Old Tampa Highway in Intercession City while driving a taxi for the Yellow Cab Co. The killer then sped in the other direction and crashed into a utility pole in a nearby neighborhood, knocking out power in the surrounding area.
Scott, who in his confession to King offered unprompted details about that night, said the plan was to rob Lavair of the $180 he had in the car but that the gun had a hair trigger and went off. He said he then hid in a nearby home beneath a blanket until the next day.
Otte, who since moved out of Florida, was arrested a week later and charged with murder after witnesses claimed he shouted them away from the car before making his escape. He maintained his innocence, saying he was drinking and partying with friends in an area now known as ChampionsGate the night of the murder.
The Sheriff’s Office said the witnesses are among the “most persuasive evidence” in the case, though several later said they were coerced by Sgt. Buddy Shephard, who they said threatened to take away their children if they didn’t pin Lavair’s murder on Otte.
Debra Murphy, who said in Otte’s first trial that he confessed to the killing hours after it happened, recanted her testimony in the second trial. Otte was later found not guilty.
Shephard, who couldn’t be reached for comment, denied the allegations at trial, claiming his “legal warnings” that the women could be charged with perjury and being an accessory to murder if they didn’t testify against Otte were his “moral obligation.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement later cleared Shephard, saying they couldn’t prove Murphy’s allegations nor could they determine if she was lying. Records of that probe no longer exist, according to an FDLE spokesperson.
The Sheriff’s Office didn’t acknowledge the allegations against Shephard or that Murphy, a key prosecution witness, recanted her story. Instead, its spokespeople characterized Otte’s acquittal as “based on a technicality.”
“(Otte’s) acquittal in court does not prove actual innocence,” the agency’s statement said.
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