2024 has just started and the madness has already begun . "Police Find Explosives And A Body In The Driveway Of Florida Home." This is one of the craziest headlines I have read in a long time. It all unfolded in Fort Myers which is about 3 hours from where I live in St. Petersburg.
Police Find Florida Man Laying Unconscious
According to the Lee County Sheriffs department police were called to a Laguna Lakes Townhome and found a man laying unconscious in a driveway on New Years day. He was on his back and despite lifesaving efforts form the medics, he died.
How did he die? It appeared that the man overdosed on fentanyl which was in a bag next to his body. The story gets crazier because the man who originally called the police is allegedly the person who gave the victim the drugs.
Michael Maree called 911 and reported a clear baggie containing fentanyl near the body. One of Maree's neighbors told police that the victim told her that he previously overdosed two separate times because of the fentanyl that Maree had given him.
Neighbor also told police that Maree sent the now deceased man a text message offering him food and the man went to his house for about an hour. The neighbor says she called and text the victim while he was at Maree's home but he was not responding.
Investigators soon found out that the victim sent Maree a text an hour before he became unresponsive. That text read, "Want to sell a bag for $50 or a couple sniffs?"
Police Find Explosives In Garage Of Florida Home
Police searched Maree's home and while in the garage they found grenade parts and a firearm suppressor inside a toolbox. Investigators say they also found multiple mercury switches in a nearby drawer. Lastly they found a railroad torpedo which is an explosive used on railroad tracks. Maree was arrested and charged with possessing explosives.
Which Florida City Made The List With Highest Murder Rates In U.S.
There's lots to love about the Sunshine State, but we're also notorious for the craziest crimes. One Florida city even ranked in the top 15 for highest murder rates in America. It's not really a list we love to see Florida on, but we can't say we're not surprised with all the insane stuff that happens here.
Our friends at neighboorhoodscout.com ranked the top 30 cities in the country with the highest murder rates per 1,000 residents. They condensed their research by including cities with 25,000 or more people. They collected their data by the number of murders reported to the FBI to have occurred in each city, and the population of each city. The city population data comes straight from the US Bureau of the Census at the time of each analysis. For instance, the 2022 list population uses 2020 population figures. The 2021 list uses 2019 figures, and so forth.
There were 14 new cities making the list this year. "The newcomer on this list with the highest murder rate is Saginaw, MI. The number of murders in Saginaw more than doubled from the previous year." Thankfully (and surprisingly) only one Florida city was ranked in the research.
Here's the top 15 cities with the highest murder rate. Click here to see the full list.
