Deputies ask public to call if they spot home-invasion homicide suspect
One of Southwest Florida’s 10 most wanted remained on the lam Wednesday afternoon after a nearly 24-hour manhunt centered in and near the San Carlos Park area ended.
Timothy Wayne Tuttle Jr., 22, is wanted in the July 10 home-invasion slaying of Eric Stuebinger, 28, in north Cape Coral.
Terry Ragland who also is accused of breaking into Stuebinger’s home, was arrested earlier.
Cape Coral police say Ragland and Tuttle demanded drugs and money from Stuebinger, then used a Taser on him before shooting Stuebinger to death.
Wednesday’s manhunt ended between 2:30 and 3 p.m. just west of Southwest International Airport near Treeline Drive. It began about 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Country Oaks area of San Carlos Park when members of the U.S. Marshal’s Task Force followed Carl Robert Dugo, 24, and Sarah Christine Lampila, 22, of 3608 Unique Circle, which is west of U.S. 41 South in San Carlos Park, law enforcement reports show.
The couple had been warned Monday by Task Force members if they gave further assistance to Tuttle, they would face charges of accessory after-the-fact to second-degree murder.
On Tuesday, Task force members met with Dugo and Lampila who said the man who fled Dugo’s truck was Tuttle and they had met with him to provide him money and water. Dugo and Lampila were arrested.
Task force members saw Tuttle get out of the truck in the San Carlos area, but he fled before they could catch him. After Tuttle ran from the truck, a perimeter was established in San Carlos Park. Members of several area law enforcement agencies spent Tuesday night tracking Tuttle with dogs and aircraft.
One woman who lives near where the search began said she saw and heard the search.
Sharon Rowlands said she left her house about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday and saw several deputies blocking streets near Pine Run Lane, Cypress View and near Three Oaks Elementary School. She saw the helicopters and airplanes flying a search pattern above her house.
A car was searched and she called neighbors to find out what was happening in her usually quiet neighborhood.
A vacant house across the street was searched by canines after a sliding glass door was found open.
“That’s the scary thing,” she said, “with all these vacant houses.”
When she returned home about 9:30 p.m., law enforcement and canines were still throughout the neighborhood.
“We slept with the outside lights on last night,” she said, concerned Tuttle is still on the lam.
Lee County Sheriff’s Office spokesman John Sheehan encouraged anyone who may know Tuttle’s whereabouts or sees something suspicious to call 911. Tuttle is considered dangerous and no one should try to apprehend him on their own. It was not known if he had a weapon.
Tuttle has blond hair and was last seen wearing shorts, no shoes and no shirt. He is 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighs 150 pounds and has a tattoo of bars with a broken clock on his upper right arm.