A woman was thrown behind bars after allegedly fatalyy shooting both of her ex-husbands in separate broad-daylight shootings on the same day, police said.
Susan Avalon, 48, was arrested on Wednesday, Dec. 17, and slapped with murdยฃr charges after blasting one ex-hubby with bullets in Tampa, then traveling more than 50 miles to Manatee County to fatally shoot the other later that day around 3 p.m.,ย according to Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells.
Investigators said Avalon was embroiled in bitter custody battles with her former spouses, which they believe may have sparked the cold-blooded k!llings.
โIt doesnโt get anymore brazen than this,โ Wells told reporters at a press conference Thursday, Dec. 18.
โWe believe this was premeditated. She knew what she was doing, it was planned and she came here to k!ll her ex-husband.โ
Police said Avalonย targeted her first husbandย โ a 54-year-old man she divorced roughly 11 years ago โ at his Manatee County home around 2:55 p.m., luring him to open his front door with stolen food from a Panera Bread before shooting him twice.
The unidentified man was rushed to a nearby hospital, but succumbed to his injuries later that day.
Surveillance footage captured Avalon walking into the nearby bread eatery and stealing food from the delivery pickup shelf without paying before heading to her ex-husbandโs home, authorities said.
Her live-in boyfriend allegedly told police she had recently tracked down her ex-husbandโs address.
The exes reportedly had ongoing custody disputes and about $4,000 in unpaid child support, with Avalon facing a looming deadline to pay $200 or lose her driverโs license.
Investigators tracked her silver Honda Odyssey back to her Citrus County home after the shooting and found her scrubbing the minivan with bleach and rags. But when asked by police about her ex-husband, she chillingly replied, โWhich one?โ
โWe only know of one,โ Wells said.
โWe start to dig into this second ex-husband that we know nothing about, and we find she was married again after the marriage to our victim, and that this ex-husband lives in Tampa.โ
Wells said investigators alerted Tampa authorities, who conducted a welfare check at the second husbandโs Frierson Avenue home and found him de@d inside with multiple gunshot wounds. The back door was also damaged, suggesting forced entry, he added.
Officials have not disclosed the second victimโs name or age, but believe Avalon allegedly k!lled him first.
Avalon, who was previously arrested on child abuse charges in Virginia in 2004, was charged with second-degree homicide in Manatee County. Wells said he is working with prosecutors to have that charge upgraded to first-degree murdยฃr and the de@th penalty.
Avalon, who reportedly has five children between both slain ex-husbandโs, also faced two other child abuse cases in Tampa and Pasco County that were later dropped.
She has not yet been charged in the Tampa shooting as police continue their investigation.
Avalon is currently being held at Citrus County Detention Facility in Lecanto.
