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Highlands Today

BREAKING NEWS: Apparent Burglar Kills Elderly Man

DEPUTIES LOOK FOR SUSPECT, ASK FOR HELP

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: November 24, 2007

SEBRING — An 82-year-old Sebring Country Estates man was shot and killed Saturday morning, apparently by a burglar.

The sheriff's office received a 911 call from Kathleen Tiller, 1610 Falcon at 2:58 a.m., saying she heard a door closing, and thought her husband had been shot.

Deputies found Samuel Tiller on the floor, and EMS workers pronounced the victim dead at the scene.
"At this time, detectives are following numerous leads," Sheriff Susan Benton said.

His body was taken from the scene and loaded in a white van at 11:20 a.m. An autopsy is scheduled Sunday in Winter Haven.

Lt. John Chess and Det. Pete Barone were among the investigators at the scene, which included a dozen police cars. A Service Master van also rolled up with four employees, apparently to clean the crime scene.

A Crime Scene Investigation specialist gathered evidence on the grassy shoulder of the street north of the home, but Benton would not say what had been taken from the home, or what Mrs. Tiller witnessed.

"They kept to themselves," said Al Perilla, who lives across the street. "They couldn't have been nicer."

Sebring Country Estates, where most of the streets are named for cars or birds, is a quiet, middle-class subdivision with concrete three-bedroom houses and well-maintained lawns.

Only one other incident had ever happened in the neighborhood that Perilla could recall. He moved there in 1993, and the Tillers had already built their house.

"Several years ago, three kids broke in," Perilla said. Tiller put up a fight, but they beat him severely before they left.
"They got away, but they got captured later, and they went to jail," he said.

Benton is asking for the public's assistance. If they saw or heard anything in the early morning hours, they are asked to call the sheriff's office at 402-7200. Anonymous tips are also be accepted at Heartland Crime Stoppers, 888-226-TIPS.

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