One in trio accused of slashing throat of elderly veteran now faces murder charge

Jacksonville, FL — Three people are accused of kidnapping and robbing an 86-year-old Neptune Beach veteran, who eventually died from injuries he suffered.

Now, one of the three suspects has had a charge upgraded.

Jennifer Schulte, Douglas Cercy, and Ray Jones were all arrested in April for attempted murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping. Police say the trio robbed 86-year-old Melvin Clark, then brought him out to the far Westside, slashed his throat, and left him on the side of the road. Clark survived the immediate attack and was eventually located and taken to the hospital, but he died from his injuries in July.

Since that time, WOKV has been asking the State Attorney’s Office whether the suspects will face upgraded charges. Now, court records show that a murder charge has been filed against Schulte in connection to Clark’s death. The new arrest report says the charge was filed on Monday, although it wasn’t immediately posted on the public court docket. When WOKV inquired with the State Attorney’s Office about the status of the charges on Tuesday, we were told any increased charge was still under review. Court records now confirm there was a pretrial hearing on Wednesday, and Schulte has been arrested for murder. The arrest report further says the new charge came at the recommendation of an Assistant State Attorney on the case.

She has another pretrial hearing set for November 1st.

The other two defendants do not have elevated charges in their court dockets or on their jail records at this time. Jones has a pretrial hearing later this month, and Cercy has a pretrial at the end of the month.

The affidavit for the arrest warrant in this case says Schulte spoke with investigators after being read her Miranda rights, and that she told police Cercy had orchestrated the robbery and held a fake gun to Clark to get him to withdraw money. She says she did not see who cut Clark's throat.

The trio allegedly fled the area in the victim’s car and were eventually caught at a bus station in South Florida.