DeBary man charged with own father’s 2012 murder

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — The son of a man found dead in the Saint Johns River nearly eight years ago has been charged with his father’s murder.

Robert Remus, Jr., 51, was arrested in DeBary Tuesday on a warrant for second-degree murder.

Boaters found the body of Robert Remus, Sr. floating in the river on December 12, 2012 with a rope tied around it and tethered to an object below the water.

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Remus Jr. had been a person of interest in the case, having been determined to be the last person to see his father alive.

Investigators in 2012 also learned Remus Jr. had given conflicting stories about the whereabouts of his father to different people, was using his father’s phone after he died, and benefited financially from his death, but they still didn’t have enough evidence at the time to charge him.

The Sheriff’s Office says one of their major case detectives spent the last year reviewing the case, reanalyzing DNA evidence, and conducting new interviews.

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With help from the State Attorney’s Office Homicide Investigative unit, that detective was able to secure the murder warrant for Remus Jr. as the person responsible for his father’s death.

He’s being held in the Volusia County jail on no bond.

Cox Media Group