A 19-year-old Florida man has been arrested after authorities say he killed, dismembered, and stuffed the body of a registered sex offender in a suitcase and left it in a remote area of Palm Bay.
Lucas Sander Jones, of Indialantic, is charged with the murder of 28-year-old Colie Lee Daniel, who was reported missing on March 22, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Fox13.
Daniel’s remains were discovered inside the suitcase that was abandoned in an undeveloped 2,784-acre area known locally as “The Compound.”
Authorities were initially drawn to the area on March 28 after reports of vultures circling overhead. Officers spotted a partially open suitcase and detected a strong odor before discovering the remains inside.
A second suitcase found nearby also contained remains, along with personal belongings and an Amazon package addressed to Jones. Jones was arrested that same day.
An investigation revealed that surveillance footage captured Daniel arriving at Jones’ home around 5:32 p.m. on March 20. Daniel, who lived about a mile away, was never seen leaving Jones’ house.
Later that evening, Daniel’s parents arrived at the home searching for him. Jones answered the door but refused to let them in.
When officers from the Indialantic Police Department conducted a welfare check, Daniel was nowhere to be found. Investigators noted Jones appeared disheveled, with red markings on his arms and chest, puffiness under his eyes, and visible bruising on his shoulder and neck, according to the arrest affidavit.
According to the affidavit, Jones’ girlfriend told investigators that on March 20, after speaking with him by phone, she “sensed something was wrong” and went to his home at his request, bringing cleaning supplies.
Jones’ girlfriend also told investigators that when she arrived, she was instructed “just to go in and not say anything,” the affidavit said. She described seeing black spray paint on the walls and blood on the floor.
Shortly after police left, Jones was seen loading his girlfriend’s car with two large storage totes and at least one black suitcase. Surveillance footage showed the same car leaving the home around 2:29 a.m. on March 21. The vehicle was later tracked making two trips to and from The Compound, authorities said.
Detectives later determined Jones, who does not own a car, had left during the night to dispose of an evidence bag with unknown contents along nearby train tracks, leaving his girlfriend asleep inside.
During a trip to The Compound, Jones, who reportedly had Daniel’s phone, allegedly instructed his girlfriend to turn off its location.
Jones reportedly confessed to her, saying, “I killed somebody and cut him up,” before explaining he placed the remains into two suitcases and two storage totes. She told police Jones said he killed Daniel with a baseball bat and dismembered the body using a cleaver, saw, and knife.
He reportedly admitted to her that he killed Daniel because Daniel was a sex offender. She told investigators she did not know how the two met, but said Jones had printed a list of sex offenders.
A week after the killing, she said Jones coached her on what to tell law enforcement.
On March 31, a medical examiner confirmed the remains found in the suitcase belonged to Daniel.
His death was ruled a homicide. However, the exact cause remains undetermined due to the incomplete recovery of his body. Investigators noted he suffered multiple blunt force injuries to the head and extremities prior to death.
Jones was taken into custody and now faces multiple charges, including tampering with evidence, abuse of a dead body, transporting human remains in an unauthorized container, and murder, dangerous and depraved without premeditation.
He is currently being held at the Brevard County Jail on no bail.
