BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A first appearance in court occurred Thursday afternoon for a man accused of killing two people in Titusville over a decade ago.
Larry Lee, 52, is accused of killing 23-year-old Anquanette Skanes and 35-year-old Lapriet Jordan on May 22, 2011, at an apartment complex in Titusville.
Lee had been a person of interest in their deaths. Witnesses said Skanes and Lee had been in a yearslong relationship, but that Skanes was also secretly dating Jordan.
The Titusville Police Department said recent advancements in forensic analysis helped confirm Lee’s involvement in the deaths of Skanes and Jordan, including DNA from blood found on a car seized from property where Lee’s parents lived.
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The U.S. Marshals Service took Lee into custody in Seminole County before he was transferred to Brevard County, where he’s being held without bond.
Lee faces two counts of second-degree murder.
“You have been charged, count one, second-degree murder reclassified, count two, second-degree murder reclassified,” Judge Michelle Pruitt Studstill read to Lee in court.
Police said Lee shot one of the victims and stabbed the other.
Neighbor William O’Donnell said he still vividly remembers the scene on Court Street back in 2011.
“Apparently, this fella came back and slit her throat,” he said. “There were people here, ministers, praying for them. It was sad, very sad.”
Throughout his criminal background, Lee has also faced attempted murder and aggravated assault charges.
O’Donnell said he’d like to see Lee spend the rest of his life in prison.
“It would definitely be fair,” the neighbor said. “It won’t bring those people back, but they didn’t deserve to die that way.”
Judge Studstill denied Lee bond Thursday.
Lee entered a written plea of not guilty.
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