Dad stabs man to death and 16-year-old son helps him ‘dump the body,’ Florida cops say

Murder turned into a macabre family outing when a Florida father killed a man, then enlisted his 16-year-old son to help “dump the body,” detectives say.

The timing of the killing has not been revealed, but the victim was in an advanced stage of decomposition when found March 17 near Palm City, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said.

Leodere Verdisca, 40, was wearing a rosary around his neck when his body was left “in a shallow body of water” surrounded by woods, officials said. He had no ID on him, officials said.

“Detectives spent weeks gathering evidence, at times leading them out of state. This week, 54-year-old Richard Elijah Neely and his 16-year-old son ... were charged,” the sheriff’s office said in an Aug. 29 news release.

“Verdisca ... was an acquaintance of the Neelys. Detectives believe the killing stemmed from money that the victim owed Richard Neely. Due to that debt, Richard Neely stabbed and killed Verdisca.”

His son then helped hide the body in the pond, “where it remained for several weeks before being discovered,” the sheriff’s office said.

Verdisca’s “distinctive tattoos” and DNA tests helped investigators identify the body. He lived in Port St. Lucie, about an 10-mile drive northwest from Palm City.

Richard Neely is charged with murder and his son is charged with an accessory after the fact, officials said.

Details of why the conflict turned violent were not released.

Palm City is about a 105-mile drive north from Miami.

This story was originally published August 29, 2024 at 10:56 AM with the headline "Dad stabs man to death and 16-year-old son helps him ‘dump the body,’ Florida cops say."