Florida Man Drove to Lawyer's Office With Dead Body in Truck
"Once I learned of the facts, I called 911," attorney Robert Harris said.
— -- A Florida man put his dead neighbor in the bed of his pickup and drove to his lawyer’s office, where he said he had killed the man in self-defense.
Attorney Robert Harris said his client, John Marshall, 52, had missing teeth and appeared to have some broken fingers. Marshall said he had gotten into a fight with a neighbor, identified as Theodore Hubbell Jr., 65.
Marshall then told Harris the body was in the back of the pickup truck, the lawyer said. “Once I learned of the facts, I called 911,” Harris told ABC affiliate WZVN-TV in Fort Myers.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office confirmed it is investigating Hubbell’s death. At this point, no charges have been filed.
Harris called the situation “a clear-cut case of self-defense.”
Marshall lives in Cape Coral, near Fort Myers, and had purchased property off a dirt road in a rural neighborhood called Bokeelia, Harris said.
Marshall and his wife planned to build a house and had built a shed on the property, and they kept a camper there, Harris said. The neighbor didn't want Marshall to build in the rural area, Harris said.
A few days before the incident, Marshall and the neighbor argued, Harris said. Marshall called Harris, who advised his client to get a restraining order.
Harris said Marshall called police and reported the incident, but a restraining order had not been issued.
The situation turned physical Wednesday, and Marshall was pistol-whipped during the fight, Harris said. “He's distraught. He's a man who fought for his life, but it doesn't change the fact that someone is dead,” Harris said.
Neighbors are devastated by Hubbell’s death, and wonder why Marshall would drive with the body in his truck.
“If I, in self-defense, had to shoot somebody or kill somebody in my home or near my home, what would I do – drag the body into my vehicle and take it to my lawyer?” neighbor Jill Hammer told WZVN. “I would be calling 911. That’s what you do. Any sane person would.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
