Rape victim, suspected assailants jailed after Palm Bay kidnapping plot

PALM BAY, Fla. – Three Palm Bay men remain in custody after detectives linked them to the beating, rape and torture of a man for ten hours last week before leaving him in a remote area near Vero Beach. 

The victim, who was treated and released from the hospital, was also arrested on an unrelated warrant charge dealing with stolen lottery tickets. He was booked into the Brevard County Jail Complex where he was placed in the medical ward.

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“It is likely that it is a drug-related incident and there were some comments that they believed him to be an informant, and that’s not the case,” said Lt. Steve Bland of the Palm Bay Police Department.

Derek Anthony Munnings, 23, was charged with sexual battery, aggravated battery causing bodily harm and kidnapping after the victim was found battered and bruised along State Road 60 in Vero Beach on Thursday.

Munnings appeared to be the primary aggressor in the assault but two others were also arrested. Both Tivy Colderwood, 22, David Grey-Taylor, 23, was charged with kidnapping, inflicting harm or terrorizing victim with Colderwood also being charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, records show.

Police also said that the Munnings repeatedly threatened to kill the victim but there appeared to be a change in plans.

“We don’t know why but there may be some speculation as to whether someone else saw them drive by,” an area where the victim was left.

Palm Bay police were called Jan. 10 to Holmes Regional Medical Center to talk to a man who was found battered alongside a remote area of County Road 512 at State Road 60 in Indian River County. Detectives learned the man had been beaten and sexually assaulted before being tossed in a car trunk and driven to Indian River County.

The man told officers that the ordeal began after he returned to an apartment on Jan. 10 where he was called a ‘snitch’ by the three men.

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Police said Munnings then punched the victim in the face while Colderwood pistol-whipped him repeatedly. The victim was moved to the garage and then bound with rope around his hands and feet.

Police said the man was then punched over the next few hours. Colderwood even brought in his girlfriend and made the victim apologize to her, reports show. A short time later, Munnings beat the victim with a metal pipe, telling him and the others that he was going to kill the man.

No one called the police for help.

Police said Munnings also used an unknown object to sexually batter the victim to the point where the victim felt himself losing consciousness. Police said Munnings then took bleach from the laundry room and poured it over the open wounds on the victim’s face. It was then that the victim was placed in the trunk and punched again, with Munnings also stomping on his head and body.

Tivy Colderwood, 21, of Palm Bay, charges: Possess / use drug paraphernalia; marijuana - poss w intent sell mfg deliver sch i; marijuana - possession <20 gr. (Photo: Brevard County Sheriff's Office - 0303, Brevard County Sheriff)

Grey-Taylor (Photo: BREVARD COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE)

The three then drove just over 30 miles away and left him in the remote area.

Officers with Palm Bay Police Department wrote that the victim was suspected of stealing over $800 worth of scratch-off lottery tickets from the 7-Eleven where he had been working. 

The victim's mugshot shows him with heavy bruising on his face, a bandage on his forehead and his right eye blackened and swollen shut. 

Munnings is being held on a total bond of $120,000, Colderwood is being held on $72,500 and Grey-Taylor is being held on 35,000 bond, according to records from the Brevard County sheriff's office. 


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