Persons of interest sought in Clermont homicide

Ronald Stedelin found shot to death earlier this month

CLERMONT, Fla. – Clermont police said they are looking for two persons of interest in connection with the homicide of Ronald Stedelin.

Police said they're searching for Amber Weaver and Shaftney McMullen, who are believed to have information that could lead detectives to whoever killed Stedelin.

"They may have information that would be important to the investigation," Sgt. Malcolm Draper with the Clermont Police Department said.

Police said Stedelin was shot in the head on June 11. His death marks the first homicide in Clermont this year, according to authorities.

Police said a resident in the area of the Disston Avenue apartment complex found Stedelin lying behind his car, which was running and had its lights on. Stedelin did not live at the apartments, police said.

"Please send someone. He's bleeding everywhere. There's a gunshot in his head. I believe the man is dead. His car is running. I don't know what happened," the 911 caller told dispatchers. "His truck is running like this was a robbery or something. I don't know."

No motive or information about the shooter is known, police said.

"We don't know. We're following all investigating leads at this time," Draper said. "In these kinds of cases, we want to resolve everything as quickly as possible. We also want to make sure we do it diligently and investigate everything thoroughly."

Clermont police said Weaver and McMullen have ties to south Lake County and are known to frequent the areas of Clermont, Groveland, Mascotte and Stuckey.

"There are several things we have questions in this case and we're hoping these individuals can help answer those questions," Draper said.

News 6 found Stedelin has a criminal history, including arrests on drug and battery charges. McMullen has been arrested for possessing controlled substances.

News 6 stopped by the scene of the shooting on Thursday and found a heavy police presence there. Officers said they were serving a search warrant on an unrelated case at the same apartment building in which Stedelin was found shot to death.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Weaver or McMullen is asked to contact Clermont police at 352-536-8415 or Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS.

Crimeline increased its reward to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of the killer.

Watch News 6 and stay with ClickOrlando.com for more on this story.


About the Author:

Daniel started with WKMG-TV in 2000 and became the digital content manager in 2009. When he's not working on ClickOrlando.com, Daniel likes to head to the beach or find a sporting event nearby.