Florida family massacre followed random encounter, sheriff says

Bryan Riley taken into custody after shootout with Polk County deputies. (File)

A Florida sheriff says a chance encounter with a former Marine beset by delusions of child sex trafficking ultimately led to the massacre of four members of a Florida family including a mother holding a baby boy.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says suspect Bryan Riley stopped by the slain family’s Lakeland home briefly after going to a nearby friend’s house to pick up a first aid kit for a Hurricane Ida relief trip.

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A short distance away, Riley saw Justice Gleason mowing his lawn with his 11-year-old daughter in the yard.

Judd says Riley later returned and killed Gleason and three others.

The girl survived by playing dead.


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