Brian Alpress Hunt

Case record

People

• Brian Alpress Hunt (defendant; homeless drifter; 49-year-old at the time of the Bonita Springs homicide; previously convicted of manslaughter)
• Franklin Boyd (victim; 44; stabbed 19 times with a screwdriver)
• Franklin C. Boyd (victim; 44)
• Jacko Poppele (victim; 44; beaten to death with a wine bottle)
• Larry King (Lee County Sheriff's Department spokesman)
• Brian Hunt (name used in the reporting)

Timeline

• 1992 — Hunt was charged with using a wine bottle to beat to death Jacko Poppele and was convicted of manslaughter; he was sentenced to four years in prison.
• 1996 (summer) — Hunt was staying in Nashville, Tenn., and allegedly killed two other homeless men in separate incidents.
• April 18, 1999 — A homeless man was stabbed and beaten in Bonita Springs.
• April 23, 1999 — Reporting described Hunt as being arrested over the weekend and linked to two deaths in Tennessee.
• May 9, 2000 — Hunt was sentenced to life in prison in Florida after pleading no contest to an April 1999 homicide.

Background

Brian Alpress Hunt was a homeless drifter. He had a lengthy record and had spent four years in a Florida jail for manslaughter. He was later being held in the Lee County Jail.

The offence

April 1999 homicide in Bonita Springs, Florida

Franklin Boyd, 44, was stabbed 19 times with a screwdriver. Authorities said Hunt became convinced that Boyd owed him $15 dollars. Hunt allegedly went to a makeshift shelter where Boyd was sleeping, woke him up, and the confrontation escalated into an argument. During the argument, Hunt allegedly choked Boyd, stabbed him repeatedly with a screwdriver, and then crushed Boyd’s skull with a cinder block.

Hunt apologized but maintained that he had no recollection of committing the crime.

Manslaughter offence in 1992 in Lee County, Florida

In 1992, Hunt was charged with using a wine bottle to beat to death Jacko Poppele, 44. Hunt was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison; he served part of the four-year term.

Investigation

Hunt was accused of committing three murders across the country and police said he may even have been linked to more.

In the Lee County Jail, Hunt was being held on a count of first-degree murder for the screwdriver stabbing and bludgeoning of another drifter on April 18. While being questioned on the Florida murder charge, Hunt allegedly confessed to killing two other homeless men in Nashville, Tenn., while he was staying there in the summer of 1996. Police said that in each case a sudden rage drove him to kill and that he accused the victims of stealing something.

Lee County Sheriff's Department spokesman Larry King said:

"He appears to get angry with [his victims]"
"Usually he accuses them of stealing something."

In the Nashville investigation, while Hunt was in custody he told police where to find the bodies of two other men he said he killed in Nashville. Police in Nashville said they found victims’ skeletal remains by railroad tracks near downtown. One body was found Wednesday and the other Thursday. Hunt gave police the identities of the men, who were beaten to death. Police were searching for next of kin and dental records to confirm the names.

Authorities also investigated whether Hunt might be behind the death of a homeless man in Delaware. Hunt had been a fugitive from a prison work-release program when he was arrested in the Boyd killing. Hunt had not admitted to any Delaware killings.

Arrest

Hunt was being held without bond pending a court appearance. While in the Lee County Jail earlier that week, Hunt drew two maps that led Nashville police to the skeletal remains of two men who were apparently beaten to death in summer 1996 in separate incidents.

Hunt turned himself in after the Bonita Springs stabbing and bludgeoning.

Trial

Hunt was sentenced to life in prison Monday after pleading no contest to an April 1999 homicide.

Sentencing

Hunt received a sentence of life in prison in Florida on May 9, 2000. The homicide involved Franklin Boyd, 44, who was stabbed 19 times with a screwdriver.

Appeals

No appeals were described.

Outcome

Hunt was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison in 1992. He later pleaded no contest to an April 1999 homicide and was sentenced to life in prison in Florida on May 9, 2000.

Aftermath

Police were not releasing the names of the Nashville victims until they had a chance to notify relatives. Authorities said that before Hunt’s statement to Lee investigators, police were not aware the men had been missing.

No formal charges had been lodged against Hunt yet in Nashville pending the completion of the police investigation.