Christian Peterson
reporter.riverbendnews@gmail.com
In the early morning hours of July 9, 2022, two victims were shot to death at the intersection of 40th Path and 167th Road in Suwannee County. According to a report filed by the Suwannee County Sheriff's Office (SCSO), the couple, 49-year-old Jean David Louis Charles and 48-year-old Colleen Patrice Louis Charles, were traveling east on 40th Path when they came across a closed farm-style gate; the report notes that 40th Path is not a county-maintained road and is an easement for multiple properties. Upon reaching the barrier, the male driver exited the vehicle to open the gate.
Upon examining the crime scene, the sheriff's office determined the driver was shot multiple times from behind as he was exiting the vehicle. According to the SCSO report, further examination of the bullet holes shows that the suspect then approached the passenger side and shot the female passenger multiple times. Both victims suffered immediate incapacitating injuries. According to information obtained from a neighbor, who was awake at the time and heard the gunshots, the suspect fled west down a fence line after Following an extensive investigation, the SCSO has identified the suspect, as 24-year-old Live Oak resident Benjamin Savage Ornes.
The report states Ornes and the victims were well acquainted with each other. In May 2022, SCSO deputies were called out to the victims' property on a report of trespassing. Ornes told the responding deputy that he was on the victims' property to find his lost dog, and stated that the couple had allegedly slashed the tires on his UTV.
"This infuriated the suspect as SCSO later learned that he could not forgive the victims after the incident," the report states.
The victims claimed Ornes was driving erratically on their property and refused to leave. The report goes on to say Ornes was trespassed from the property, and it was suspected that the flat tires on the UTV were from erratic driving, not slashing.
During the initial investigation into the shooting in 2022, deputies were unable to locate shell casings at the crime scene. However, due to the eyewitness statement from the neighbor, the investigators expanded their search down the property line. In doing so, they found freshly cut barbed wire and a ghillie suit or camo netting along the fence line. The property owner confirmed that the fence line was checked regularly due to his livestock. He stated he had inspected it the day before the shooting, and it was not cut.
The SCSO continued its investigation by canvassing the neighborhood, eventually making contact with Ornes. Investigators questioned him about firearms, at which time Ornes revealed that he was a gun enthusiast and an avid shooter. The report also states Ornes "boasted about his athleticism and his personal training" and that he was also a "dedicated gamer, playing mostly first-person shooter games." When deputies made contact with him, Ornes revealed he owned a Tavor 5.56 caliber rifle. The report notes the gun "smelled strongly of fresh gunpowder" and "had a small amount of dirt on the stock." When asked if he had recently shot the weapon, Ornes stated he had not and he was out of ammunition. Due to a lack of information, SCSO was forced to leave the firearm with Ornes.
Based on their initial contact with Ornes, the SCSO obtained a search warrant for his residence. "During the search of the residence and interview of the suspect, the suspect made several statements and comments that were odd and concerning," the report states. Ornes allegedly stated that, around July 11, 2022, he went to the local dump and threw away a ghillie suit, claiming it to be of poor quality. Then, when he was asked about the location of his Tavor rifle, Ornes said that he sold it because it had "too much heat on it."
Investigators questioned this thought process, and Ornes said that when investigators first made contact with him, they alluded that a gun had shot his neighbors with the same caliber, so he got rid of the firearm at a gun show. However, the gun show could not confirm the information, and Ornes could not provide any information on who he sold the gun to.
He was then asked if he had made any contact with the victims since the trespassing incident. The report states that Ornes admitted to speaking to the male victim at the property line a few days before the shooting. Ornes told investigators he asked the victim to apologize for slashing the tires on his UTV, but the victim refused to speak with him. He also denied owning the ghillie suit found along the fence line.
When asked about shooting and target practice, Ornes allegedly admitted that he shot into the trees behind his house. He also agreed to provide DNA samples to test against the ghillie suit found near the scene.
The search warrant served on Ornes's residence provided investigators with shell casings, gun magazines, gun parts, pistols, clothing, ghillie suit components and electronic items. The SCSO also cut down several trees behind his home "with obvious gunshots" so the projectiles could be extracted from them to be used for comparison. Ornes's cellphone was also taken, and a separate search warrant was obtained for the phone's data.
During the search of the cellphone, investigators found multiple photos of Ornes with his guns, including the Tavor rifle. There were also images of "brass catchers," a device used to catch shell casings, along with pictures of "targets appearing to be black faces inside a square window," photos of his UTV and tires, and the SCSO report data from the May 2022 incident. Images also depicted Ornes holding the Tavor rifle with a homemade brass catch.
"This information was specific to the crime scene, where no shell casings were located near the vehicle or anywhere within the crime scene despite the victims having been shot well over 25 times," the report states.
Internet searches found on Ornes's phone revealed even more, as they indicated he was searching the moon phases and seeing how much ambient light was emitted by the moonlight the night before the shooting. Ornes also allegedly researched the location of the gas tank on a Ford F250 Tremor model, which was one of the vehicles the victims owned, along with the interior layout of their camper.
"The suspect also searched various active shooter videos and stories as well as mafia slang terms related to targeting a person," the report states. "The data also showed that the suspect searched how to delete a Reddit account shortly after the incident."
Additionally, investigators discovered a text message between Ornes and a friend, where he admitted he did not attend the gun show on July 11, 2022.
Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Crime Lab analyzed and compared the projectiles removed from the trees behind Ornes's home to the ones recovered from the victims' bodies. The report states the results were inconclusive due to the projectiles being damaged upon entering the trees. The DNA tests on the ghillie suit also came back inconclusive; as a result, investigators contacted Miami-Dade County to conduct a more thorough test using a different method.
In an effort to find additional projectiles, investigators received permission to go on the neighboring property, where they located multiple pistol and rifle rounds in the ground. The FDLE Crime Lab later advised the SCSO that they were able to obtain a positive match from these projectiles to the ones removed from the victims.
After a year and a half of investigating, the SCSO placed Ornes under arrest on two counts of premeditated first-degree murder.the shooting. Initially, the neighbor suspected someone was shooting at wild game.