Citrus County woman held in shooting death of Manatee man

Manatee County Sheriff’s deputies have taken into custody a 51-year-old woman in connection with the fatal shooting of her ex-husband Wednesday afternoon in a community near the junction of State Road 64 and Interstate 75.

Image courtesy of Manatee County Sheriff's Office

The Sheriff’s Office said Susan Erica Avalon of Citrus County was found at her Inverness home Wednesday night, based on information provided by the 54-year-old-victim, who died later of his wounds. 

The identity of the man found shot in the 7000 block of Chatum Light Run in the community of Lighthouse Cove at Heritage Harbour was not released under the provisions of Florida’s Marcy’s Law.

The Sheriff’s Office reported deputies came to the home around 3 p.m. Wednesday and found the man shot. He told the deputies someone, possibly his ex-wife, had come to his door and shot him when he opened it. 

The victim's 15-year-old daughter was home and did not see the shooting, but described for deputies a silver Honda Odyssey outside and a masked person in a gray sweatshirt getting in, Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells said, adding the victim's ex-wife, Avalon, owns a similar car. 

He said license plate readers between Manatee and Citrus County recorded the minivan making the drive north after the incident. Deputies from Manatee drove to Avalon's home in Inverness, finding the same vehicle parked outside her address. They found her coming outside the home with bleach and rags, headed for the minivan, when they confronted her and asked about her ex-husband, Wells said. 

"She says, 'which one?' '' Wells said. 

Subsequent investigation and conversations uncovered the existence of another ex-husband in Tampa, who also turned up dead at his home on Wednesday, Wells said, adding a live-in boyfriend in Inverness said Avalon returned home and headed straight to the shower with her clothes on. 

"I don't know why yesterday was the day,'' Wells said in a news conference on Thursday. "It doesn't get any more brazen than this.''

Wells said the Sheriff's Office plans to ask prosecutors to convene a grand jury and seek first-degree murder charges. The Tampa case is similarly under investigation. 

"This is different to say the least, this is bizarre,'' Wells said. 

On Avalon's Facebook page, a 2022 post in part reads "Be careful how you treat a good woman. … Everyone has a breaking point, even us.''