A 36-year-old was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after he attacked an older man at a Florida golf course, as per NBC News. Authorities have said that they don’t know the motive for the attack and that the accused had no clear purpose for being at the course. The incident occurred at Sandhill Crane Golf Course in Palm Beach, Florida.
The victim has been identified as 65-year-old Brian Hiltebeitel. According to witnesses, the accused, Junior Boucher, attacked the victim with the latter’s golf clubs while he was playing on the golf course, near the first hole.
Witnesses also reported to the police that Boucher chased the victim into a nearby pond as the victim screamed for help. The victim was struck repeatedly with a golf club and was choked by the accused. After the attack, he discarded his clothes and headed towards the nearby woods. He was later detained by police using an “electronic control device”.
Hiltebeitel was pulled out from the pond by authorities, who declared him dead at the golf course after performing life-saving measures.
Palm Beach Gardens Police Chief Dominick Pape said (via Golfweek),
“We’re still looking through the leads. We’re still interviewing people at the scene. We don’t know (the motive) yet.”
He further said (via NBC),
“It does not appear that Boucher had any legitimate purpose for being at the golf course. This appears to be a random act of violence where Boucher used the victim’s golf clubs as weapons and viciously attacked the victim — ultimately killing him.”
According to police, Hiltebeitel lived in West Palm Beach with his girlfriend, Dina Lauro, at the time of his death. In an interview with NBC Miami, Lauro shared that their relationship started as a six-month friendship and developed into a 17-year love. She said that they lived in Philadelphia before moving to south Florida.
She said,
“Such a good person, he was exciting to be with, always in a good mood, never depressed, wake up happy. It’s a shock, he’s always there, Brian’s my right arm
