Investigators are now combing through evidence, including surveillance tapes from the turnpike and bullet casings and fragments recovered from the crime scene. They believe the assailant was traveling with the Escobedos in their 1998 black Jeep Cherokee, which was pulled off to the side of the road. Sometime between 1:30 and 3 on Friday morning, authorities say, the killer shot the victims repeatedly, most likely with a semiautomatic. Then the killer drove off in the Jeep (authorities still hadn’t located the vehicle on Saturday). One resident of the nearby St. James Golf Club told reporters that she was awakened by a rapid succession of “pops” at 2:24 a.m.
The Escobedos moved from Brownsville, Texas, to Greenacres, Fla.–about 60 miles south of Port St. Lucie–on June 15. One of their new neighbors, Stephen Jones, says they were quiet but friendly. Police still have no clues about who might have shattered the calm of their new life.
