An hours-long standoff came to an end after the man accused of killing at least three people, including two in Winter Haven, was finally arrested after Polk County deputies cornered him inside a home.
The suspect, 35-year-old Stanley Eric Mossburg, also known as “Woo Woo,” was taken into custody just after 5 a.m. Tuesday by the sheriff’s office SWAT team. Officials said he was barricaded in a home.
His violent spree started on October 1 in Tennessee. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd gave the following preliminary timeline from Mossburg’s first alleged murder to his arrest in Winter Haven:
October 1: First murder in Tennessee
Judd said a man was inside a Greenville laundromat by himself around 11 p.m. Video surveillance showed a white male, later identified as Mossburg, enter. He pulled a gun and forced the victim into a bathroom. Four minutes later, both exited. The victim’s hands and arms were bound against his body and Mossburg was holding a gun.
The suspect picked up the victim’s cell phone, and followed the victim out of the laundromat — and out of view. The victim’s wife became concerned when he didn’t return home, and texted him. She received a response from her husband’s cell phone that is “very vile, ugly, nasty,” Judd described. The wife called 911 and police arrived at the laundromat, but they didn’t see anything suspicious.
At this point, the victim’s car was gone.
October 2: First victim’s body is found
Around 7 a.m., customers began to show up at the laundromat. It was hot inside, Judd said, so they opened the back door and found the victim in a pool of blood. At this time, the victim’s car is reported stolen, a Buick LeSabre.
On this day, Mossburg arrived in his hometown, Spartanburg, South Carolina. His sister purchased him a bus ticket because he wanted to go to Orlando. Judd said it’s unclear what connection the suspect had to any part of Florida. She drove him to Atlanta where he got on the bus.
October 4: Mossburg went back home
Spartanburg police said they received surveillance video showing the suspect, which alerted them that Mossburg returned to their area. They alerted police in Tennessee.
October 5: Victim’s car found
Police found the Tennessee’s victim’s car at a scrap yard.
October 9: Another stolen vehicle
It wasn’t until Monday night, when Polk County deputies discovered Mossburg stole a black F250 dually truck on October 9 in Seffner. It’s unclear how he traveled from Orlando to Seffner.
October 11: Mossburg is in Florida
Polk County officials learned Mossberg was in the area. They received word that he pawned property at an Auburndale pawn shop. A BOLO was issued.
October 13: The second known murder
Around 4 p.m., Judd said Mossburg was seen in Ring Video in Winter Haven. Ring notified the owner that someone was outside. The owner headed out, confronted Mossburg and told him to leave. Mossberg left.
The residence later became Mossberg’s murder scene, Judd explained.
By 10:30 p.m., a male — who Judd referred to as the “live victim” — arrived home, where he lived with two roommates, a male and a female. Judd said he heard his female roommate say, “Do what he says, and he won’t hurt you.”
Mossburg approached the male, and explained he had guns and knives, and will kill him if he resists. Mossburg took the live victim through the home, and, at one point, he saw his female roommate tied to a chair. Mossburg told the live victim not to look inside the master bedroom, “because you won’t like what you see in there.” Judd said the male roommate was dead inside the room.
The live victim was tied up in the office space, and Mossberg demanded money and valuables. He explained that the male victim in the master bedroom tried to “fight back,” so Mossberg made him suffer before killing him, Judd said.
At one point, Mossburg left the live victim, and later returned to tell him he killed the female roommate.
“He slashed and murdered both victims,” Judd said. “He slashed and murdered the victim in Tennessee.”
Mossburg poured bleach on the victims, got a mop bucket, and started mopping the floors.
Source: Channel 13