Port Orange cops: Woman murdered in Sunset Cove Drive home, adult daughter critically injured; suspects detained in Louisiana

PORT ORANGE -- One woman in her mid 50s was found murdered early this morning and her grown daughter critically injured inside their home in the 3800 block of Sunset Cove Drive, Port Orange police said.

The crime scene was discovered at 2:10 a.m., when police went to the home in the Sunset Cove subdivision at the request of the Sheriff's Office in West Baton Rouge, La. Officials in Baton Rouge were out with a crashed vehicle they had apparently pursued on Interstate 10 with the murder suspects inside.

"Two male occupants in the crashed vehicle provided information to the Baton Rouge Sheriff’s officials the registered owner of the vehicle they were fleeing in was the victim of a homicide in Port Orange and another female at the Sunset Cove residence was severely injured," Port Orange police spokesman Capt. Wade Miller said. "Baton Rouge officials asked Port Orange Police officials to attempt contact at the residence."

Port Orange officers knocked on the door, but go no answer and after hearing a knocking sound that came from within the home, and based on the information received from Louisiana, forced their way inside and found the victims, Miller said.

"Officers located a deceased female located in an upstairs bedroom, age mid 50s, and a second female in another bedroom, age mid 20s, severely injured, however conscious," Miller said.

The injured woman was immediately transported to Halifax Medical Center and is currently undergoing surgery. Both subjects in Louisiana are currently in custody by that jurisdiction under a multitude of charges from the agency there.

The names of the homicide victim and the younger woman were not released nor did police provide any details how the older woman was killed.

"The investigation thus far indicates this was not a random act," Miller said, adding Port Orange investigators continue working with Baton Rouge Law Enforcement officials, the Volusia County Homicide Task Force and the Volusia County Medical Examiner’s Office concerning this death investigation and incident.

Anyone with information on the crime is being asked to call Port Orange Police Detective Jeff Wenzel at 386-506-5884.