Global InformationDeltona massacre information
| 2004 Deltona massacre | |
|---|---|
| Location | 3106 Telford Lane Deltona, Florida, U.S. |
| Date | Friday, August 6, 2004[1] |
Attack type | Home invasion, mass murder |
| Weapons | Baseball bats, machete |
| Deaths | 6 |
| Injured | 0 |
| Perpetrators | Troy Victorino, Jerone Hunter, Robert Cannon, Michael Salas |
The Deltona massacre (commonly referred to as the "Xbox Murders") was a residential murder which occurred on August 6, 2004, in a home on Telford Lane in Deltona, Florida, United States. Four men broke into the home and bludgeoned six victims to death. The four attackers,[2] apparently inspired by the film Wonderland,[3] tortured and killed four men, two women, and a dog inside the home, making it the deadliest mass murder in Volusia County history.[4] Their primary motive for the murders was revenge on Erin Belanger, who had evicted a squatter, Troy Victorino, from her grandmother's then-vacant house, with the secondary motive of recovering an Xbox game console and some clothing that Victorino had left behind. Victorino was able to further motivate his accomplices by pointing out that the attack would likely allow them to kill another person they were mad at, but that person happened not to be at the house that night.[5]
A jury found Troy Victorino, Robert Cannon, Jerone Hunter, and Michael Salas guilty of the massacre in August 2006. Seventh Circuit Judge William A. Parsons upheld the jury's death penalty recommendation and called the killings "conscienceless" and "unnecessarily torturous."[6] He told each of the men during back-to-back sentencing hearings, "You have not only forfeited your right to live among us, you have forfeited your right to live at all." Salas and Cannon were both sentenced to life in prison, while Hunter and Victorino received the death sentence. The death sentences of Victorino and Hunter were overturned on June 14, 2017.[7] Prosecutors intend to seek death sentences for the two men again and both Victorino and Hunter are awaiting resentencing.[8][9][10]
- ^ Special Reports: Deltona deaths Archived 2007-05-19 at the Wayback Machine. Daytona Beach News-Journal. August 2004. Retrieved 2012-08-01.
- ^ "Terror on Telford Lane: The Stories behind the Deltona murders Archived 2007-05-19 at the Wayback Machine", News-Journal Online.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Jeannine Gage (2004-08-09). "Sheriff: Xbox Dispute Led to Brutal Slayings in Deltona". Daytona Beach News Journal.
- ^ Caldwell, By Alicia A. "Police: Deltona killers missed 1". baltimoresun.com.
- ^ Patricio G. Balona, "Life or Death? Trio found guilty of brutal killings", Daytona Beach News Journal (July 26, 2006).
- ^ "Death sentence overturned for Troy Victorino, ringleader of Deltona mass murder". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
- ^ "14 years later, 2004 Deltona massacre resonates". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
- ^ "Inmate Population Information Detail (Jerone Hunter)". Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
- ^ "Death Row Roster". Florida Department of Corrections. Retrieved October 2, 2021.