A woman visiting Florida’s Vero Beach rescued a man from the ocean who investigators now believe is a suspect in a double homicide.
The woman, identified only as Belinda, told ABC affiliate WPBF 25 News she was walking near Riomar Beach on the morning of March 24 when she heard a man screaming for help from the water.
Belinda entered the ocean and instructed the man to float on his back for the waves to carry him toward the shore.
“He said, ‘I’m exhausted, I’m tired,’ and I said, ‘Do it! Get on your back and let the waves carry you, you can do it, come on,’” Belinda told WPBF.
Police have since identified the man as 64-year-old Jesse Ellis, the primary suspect in the fatal shootings of his estranged wife, Stacie Mason, and Danny Ooley. Both victims were employees of the Indian River County Public Works Department.
Footage released by investigators shows Belinda assisting Ellis on the sand after he reached the shore. According to her account, Ellis claimed he would never go out that far again and mentioned he intended to “take a long vacation.”
Belinda stated she was unaware of the man’s identity or the allegations against him at the time of the rescue.
She told WPBF that while she could not have left someone to drown, she would have called 911 immediately if she had known the situation.
“I could not leave him in the water no matter what,” Belinda said. “Everybody is going through something.”
The shooting took place around 7am on March 24 in a parking lot near the Indian River County Public Library. Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey described the incident as a “crime of passion,” noting that Mason and Ooley were colleagues and were believed to be in a relationship.
Mason and the suspect, Ellis, had been married for 13 years but were reportedly in the process of separating.
Police later located a vehicle linked to Ellis at South Beach Park. Shortly after the shooting occurred, emergency services responded to reports of a man entering the ocean fully clothed. Rescue crews reached a man nearly 900 yards offshore by boat, but he provided a false name and was determined at the time to be safe.
Currey stated that investigators later believed that the person may have been Ellis.
Ellis has not yet been caught, and police have warned the public not to approach him. Indian River County authorities continue to urge anyone with information on his whereabouts to contact 911.
