JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — An arrest report obtained by Action News Jax gives more details into a stabbing Wednesday night under the Jacksonville Beach pier that resulted in the death of a 60-year-old Georgia man.
Jacksonville Beach police detained Dennis Perry, 38, as a suspect after discovering a man stabbed to death underneath the Jacksonville Beach Fishing Pier, the report states.
Officers located the victim, identified as Stephen Beegle, with multiple stab wounds and cuts across his body, the report states.
The investigation began after a man called police to report witnessing a fight between two men. The witness told officers he returned to the area a short time later and discovered Beegle deceased under the pier, the report states.
Responding officers located Perry and another witness near boardwalk trash cans at 2nd Avenue North, where police observed blood on Perry’s hands and shoes, the report states.
Officers identified Beegle through a Georgia driver’s license found in his possession. Following Perry’s detention on the boardwalk, officers transported him to the Jacksonville Beach Police Department for questioning, according to the report.
Detectives reviewed footage from municipal cameras and the Jacksonville Beach Fishing Pier Overview Live Cam on YouTube to reconstruct the following timeline of the attack:
9:23 p.m. Video showed Perry exiting the boardwalk at 2nd Avenue North and entering the dunes where a backpack had been placed.
9:26 p.m. Perry walked beneath the pier with a pronounced gait, reached into his shorts and pulled out what appeared to be a knife.
9:32 p.m. Video captured Perry leaving the pier area walking along the boardwalk, speaking briefly with another male at 3rd Avenue North and eventually hiding the weapon behind trash cans in the dunes.
9:33 p.m. Perry walks west on 2nd Avenue North.
Investigators searching the dune area behind the trash cans on 2nd Avenue North recovered a black backpack near a pair of small palm trees, the report states. Inside the bag, officers found clothing, toiletry items, glasses, a large black knife sheath and pill bottles labeled with Perry’s name.
The knife was located roughly two feet away, lying in the sand beneath shrubbery, according to the report.
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