A missing-person search became a murder case after suitcases were found in the Compound, police say.

PALM BAY, Fla. — A 19-year-old Indialantic man is being held without bond after police said he killed a nearby resident, dismembered him, moved the remains from a home and left them in suitcases in a remote Palm Bay area.

Lucas Sander Jones faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of 28-year-old Colie Lee Daniel, according to Brevard County jail records and police affidavits described in local reports. The case moved from a missing-person search to a homicide inquiry after Daniel’s parents went to Jones’ home looking for him, officers later found remains in the undeveloped Compound and investigators said a witness recanted an earlier account. The immediate stakes are Jones’ no-bond jail status, the pending murder case and the still-active search for evidence.

The timeline began March 20, when Daniel told his parents he was going to Jones’ Watson Drive home in Indialantic, police said. Daniel lived nearby and was expected back, but he did not return. His parents used location information from one of his devices and went to the address that evening. Jones told them Daniel was inside but would not come to the door, according to affidavits. Officers responded to the home, but they did not see Daniel, did not enter the residence and did not find him outside. The family kept searching, and Daniel’s parents later reported him missing March 22 after the earlier visit failed to explain where he had gone. That first night now anchors the prosecution timeline.

Investigators say the scene inside the home told a different story from the one given outside. Search records described suspected blood in multiple areas, including flooring, grout and parts of the residence where cleaning appeared to have taken place. Police also described clothing with red stains, spray paint on a hallway wall and items that appeared tied to cleanup work. Those findings became central because officers had been outside the same house on the night Daniel vanished. The affidavits say the girlfriend later told detectives Jones had already attacked Daniel before she arrived and before Daniel’s parents stood outside asking to see him. Police have not publicly released all search-warrant photos or a full inventory, and the defense has not filed a detailed public response.

The case became public March 28, when Palm Bay police were called to the area of Bombardier Boulevard in the Compound, a large undeveloped section of the city known for brush, rough roads and illegal dumping. Officers were told vultures had gathered near an abandoned suitcase in tall grass. Police found human remains and later located a second suitcase nearby. Reports said one suitcase contained personal items and a package addressed to Jones. That evidence led investigators from the disposal site back to Indialantic, where they obtained a warrant and searched Jones’ home. The discovery also connected Palm Bay police, Indialantic police and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office in the same investigation, broadening the case beyond one city. The setting mattered because the suitcase was not found during a directed search for Daniel, but through a call about scavenging birds and an abandoned item.

Police first arrested Jones on March 29 on charges tied to the remains and the alleged effort to conceal evidence. Jail records and local reports listed counts including tampering with evidence, abuse of a dead human body and a violation involving storage, preservation or transport of human remains. Jones posted bond and was released the same day on those earlier charges. Detectives continued working the case, comparing the suitcase evidence with Daniel’s missing-person report, the search of Jones’ home, witness accounts, vehicle movements and the medical examiner’s findings. The murder charge was filed after that added review, giving prosecutors a case that now covers both the alleged killing and the actions afterward. That sequence also explains why the first arrest did not immediately include murder, even though police were already treating the remains as part of a broader violent-crime investigation.

A revised statement from Jones’ girlfriend became one of the most detailed parts of the police account. She told detectives Jones said, “I killed somebody and cut him up,” and identified the person as Daniel, according to the affidavits. She said Jones described using a baseball bat in the attack and then using a cleaver, saw and knife to cut up the body. Police said she also told them Jones collected some of Daniel’s blood on microscope slides. Investigators treated those statements as allegations to be tested against physical evidence, including blood traces, tools, containers, phone data and the remains found in Palm Bay. The girlfriend also said an earlier account had been shaped by what Jones told her to say. Her account also supplied investigators with a sequence for when Daniel was allegedly killed, when the body was cut up and when the remains were moved.

The girlfriend also gave police a possible motive, though authorities have not presented a final motive statement in court. She said Jones had printed a list of nearby registered sex offenders and said he wanted to kill Daniel because Daniel was a sex offender. Daniel was listed in state records as a registered sex offender from a 2018 conviction. Police said Daniel and Jones lived close to each other, and local reports placed their homes about a half mile to a mile apart. Investigators have not publicly explained the full relationship between the two men or how Daniel came to be at Jones’ house that afternoon. That gap remains important because it bears on planning, intent and the order of events. Police have described that point as part of the alleged background, not as a legal finding about why the killing occurred.

After the alleged killing, police said, Jones moved containers from the house to the girlfriend’s vehicle and traveled to the Compound. The girlfriend told detectives she went with him during the disposal trip and that containers were left in separate places. Camera information and other records placed the vehicle near the area, according to the affidavits described by local stations. The remote property has been discussed for years in Palm Bay because of dumping and development issues. A city council member said the discovery did not surprise him and said more remains could surface as cleanup and development plans continue. Investigators have not said how long the suitcases sat there before vultures drew attention, or whether every disposal point has been identified. That left the land itself as both a crime scene and a public-policy flashpoint for residents who already viewed the area as difficult to control.

The medical examiner identified the remains as Daniel’s and ruled the death a homicide. Reports described blunt-force injuries and defensive wounds, but police had not publicly released a complete final account of the cause of death or whether every part of Daniel’s body had been recovered. That left forensic testing as a major next step. Investigators also must account for the condition of the remains, the time between Daniel’s disappearance and the suitcase discovery, and the connection between blood evidence in the home and the recovered body parts. Those findings could shape later filings, plea talks or trial evidence, especially if prosecutors use them to tie each stage of the timeline together. Any later recovery could also affect how the state describes the injuries and how the defense tests the reliability of the medical conclusions. Prosecutors also may need to explain which injuries occurred before death and which actions occurred afterward.

Jones was booked again April 1 on second-degree murder without premeditation and ordered held without bond. The earlier evidence-related case listed an April 21 court date in jail records, while the murder booking entry reviewed in reports did not show a set court date. Jones has not been convicted, and the allegations remain pending. Prosecutors will have to prove the charge in Brevard County court while the defense can challenge the searches, witness statements, forensic results and timeline. The next public steps are expected to come through court filings, hearings and any additional police updates, rather than through a complete release of the investigative file. Court records reviewed in the public summaries did not show a plea to the murder count, and no trial date had been reported. The pending evidence-related counts could remain separate or be handled alongside later homicide proceedings, depending on charging decisions.

The case now stands at the start of the homicide court process. Jones remained in custody Monday, April 27, and police said the investigation remained active as detectives reviewed records, processed forensic evidence and tracked any remaining questions about the Indialantic home and Palm Bay disposal site.

Author note: Last updated April 27, 2026.