Photos for Headline Surfer / ABOVE: Daytona Beach Police Command Center vehicle was moved from Main Street to the crime scene at nearby North Wild Olive and Riverview to deal with the grisly double homicide just after 12:15 a.m. Sunday. AT LEFT: Cops working the crime; along with a locator map. BELOW: The sights from Bike Week on Main Street over the weekend. And screenshots from video by WESH Ch. 2 of DBPD Chief Jakari Young and from WFTV Ch 9 of DBPD investigators huddling at the crime scene.
By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A local husband and wife on bicycles checking out the Bike Week scene on Main Street were found brutally murdered on a side street over the weekend - both stabbed multiple times and their throats slashed, Daytona Beach cops said.
At first, police said they thought the man and woman might have been the victims of a hit-and-run until they made a disturbing discovery in the 700 block of North Wild Olive Avenue that proved otherwise:
The man was found face down and the woman face up -- their throats slashed. They were murdered in cold blood, literally. Large pools of blood covered the bodies and ran along the pavement.
Daytona Beach cops said the victims were married and were riding their bikes home from Main Street when they were attacked early Sunday morning. What they have yet to determine is a motive for the double murder.
DBPD was first notified at 1:57 a.m. Sunday in a 9-1-1 call by a man described as a witness prompting dispatchers to send officers to that location.
First responders found the bodies of 48-year-old Terry Aultman and 55-year old Brenda Aultman – local residents of Daytona Beach covered in blood from multiple stab wounds and their throats slashed.
Paramedics declared both victims as deceased at the scene within minutes of the initial 9-1-1 call.
Other neighbors called police early Sunday as well after they saw two people lying on the side of the road. The blood trail showed their bodies were dragged out from the road and onto the grass before the suspect ran off.
Main Street, Daytona Beach is the epicenter of the 81st Bike Week with 300,000 to 4000,000 bikers expected here in Central Florida over the 10-day run through next weekend where the eye-catching sights are the bikes, babes, and the bizarre like snake handlers.
What was surreal yet oh so real was the grisly double homicide a block away from Main Street in the middle of the night - the husband-and-wife victims having left the festivities for their return home - but not making it.
Additional information was released a short time ago in an email media alert to Headline Surfer by Daytona Beach Police PIO Messod Bendayan, who stated "DBPD’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) has spoken to the man who made the 9-1-1 call as well as a woman who was also on scene. Both claim they found the man lying face-down on his chest and the woman lying face-up on her back in a grassy area next to the sidewalk at the southeast corner of Wild Olive and Riverview."
Bendayan added two bicycles near the bodies were collected and were being processed for evidence as part of this ongoing investigation.
Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said the crime scene was among the most disturbing he's dealt with as a cop.
"This is probably one of the most vicious and gruesome incidents that I’ve witnessed in my 20 years," Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said. "We can’t rule out that this may be totally random, but if it is totally random, the person responsible has to be deranged."
"This is probably one of the most vicious and gruesome incidents that I’ve witnessed in my 20 years," Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said. "We can’t rule out that this may be totally random, but if it is totally random, the person responsible has to be deranged."
Young later added in a statement released by the DBPD: "We will spare no expense and leave no stone unturned in order to solve this case. “I assure you that our detectives are doing all they can to bring justice to the loved ones of these victims.”
Cops investigating do not think it was a robbery. The only information they have about the knife-wielding killer is that it is a man, who was possibly wearing light-colored pants and had a backpack.
Neighbors were shaken by the horrific killings, saying they perhaps need to get more involved - be more proactive in keeping a watchful eye on the goings-on in the area.
“We live here - We can do something," Bradford Gonzalez said. "Get a good Neighborhood Watch program going. Get people walking the streets."
Bradford continued, "The police do a great job. They patrol this area. They’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing, but it’s we the community, people that live here -- if we don’t band together and come up with a plan, it’s not going to change.”
Headline Surfer pics / Bike Week revelers in this photo composite are seemingly unaware or oblivious to the violent double -murder of a local couple.
Another neighbor who only identified herself as Sue, said cops asked to view video recorded by cameras at her home and she complied readily.
“They knocked on my door at 2:15 in the morning, the detectives, because they wanted to get the videos off of my cameras,” she explained. “(These deaths are) disturbing, certainly, and (the cops) were really upset. They said it was horrendous.”
PIO update on the investigation:
• The bodies are now with the Volusia County Medical Examiner’s office. Autopsies will be performed to determine the exact cause and manner of death.
• Criminal Investigations Division is working on all aspects of this case, including determining the motive for this attack and identifying whoever was involved in these murders.
• It appears that the victims were using their bicycles to get home after participating in Bike Week festivities when the double fatal attack happened.
• Cops are searching for a "person of interest" in this case: He’s a man of unknown race wearing light-colored pants and possibly carrying a backpack.
• Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Collin Howell at 386-671-5257 or HowellCollin@DBPD.us regarding Case No. 220003866.
Previous-Related Bike Week Coverage:
Daytona's Bike Week 2022 well underway with lots of bikes, babes, and beer
About the Byline Writer: Henry Frederick is a member of the working press and publisher of Headline Surfer, the award-winning 24/7 internet news outlet launched in 2008 along the I-4 tourism corridor in greater Daytona Beach to Orlando from Lake Mary, Florida via HeadlineSurfer.com. Frederick has amassed 115 award-winning bylines in print & online. He earned his Master of Arts in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University in 2019. He was a breaking news reporter (metro cops & courts beat) for the Daytona Beach News-Journal for nearly a decade. And Before that worked the same beat for The Journal-News/Gannett Suburban Newspapers in Rockland/Westchester counties, NY, dating back to 1989. Having witnessed the execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Florida's death chamber and covering other high-profile cases such as the George Zimmerman murder trial, Frederick has appeared on national crime shows on Discovery ID, Reelz, and the Oxygen Network series "Snapped" for his analysis. AWJ: