A 36-year-old man faces a first-degree murder charge after police say he beat a golfer to death with the victim’s clubs at a local golf course, USA Today reports.
The attack happened Monday afternoon at Sandhill Crane Golf Club, northwest of West Palm Beach. Police identified the suspect as Junior Boucher and the victim as 65-year-old Brian Hiltebeitel.
Witnesses told police Boucher hit Hiltebeitel with a golf club near the first hole. He then chased Hiltebeitel to a pond. The attack continued in the water. Witnesses heard Hiltebeitel yell, “He’s trying to kill me!” Police say Boucher choked Hiltebeitel before leaving the pond and walking, half-naked, toward a wooded area.
Officers arrived shortly after and found Hiltebeitel’s body in the pond. Despite efforts to revive him, he was pronounced dead at the scene. Boucher was soon spotted fleeing the area and was arrested after police used an electronic control device to subdue him.
Palm Beach Gardens police officer Javier Garcia told USA Today that authorities are still investigating the case, saying, “Detectives have not discovered a motive as of yet, as this appears to have been a random act of violence.”
Officers used an “electronic control device” to arrest Boucher before taking him to a hospital for a medical check-up. He was then transported to jail, where he remains without bond. Boucher, a West Palm Beach resident, refused to speak with detectives without an attorney present. He is set to appear in court on December 26 to face the murder charge.
The attack occurred around the same time Boucher’s family had reported him missing to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. Court records show that the same day, two relatives filed an eviction notice against him. This had also happened in 2018, according to court documents.
