Daniel Dovi, 64, who was arrested after a dramatic police chase in Florida on Tuesday has now been named a person of interest in a double homicide
A man accused of leading police on a high-speed chase through South Florida earlier this week that ended with a dramatic rollover crash has been named a person of interest in the grisly killings of two men who were found stabbed to death on a Fort Lauderdale beach.
Fort Lauderdale police on Wednesday identified Daniel Santo Dovi, 64, in connection to the double slaying, police spokeswoman Ali Adamson said at a news conference.
A man walking in the area of the 3000 block of North Ocean Boulevard near Galt Ocean Mile at around 6.15am on Tuesday called 911 to report the two blood-soaked bodies on the beach by Earl Lifshey Park.
The caller initially thought one of the men was sleeping, but upon closer inspection he came to the realization that both men were dead.
‘There’s blood everywhere. He looks dead,’ the man tells a dispatcher. ‘My god, I cannot go any closer.’
Police say Dovi, driving a white Jeep (right), led them on a 20-mile chase in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday morning
The chase came to an end after a trooper clipped Dovi’s Jeep and caused it to spin out
The Jeep overturned on Interstate 95, as seen in this WSVN chopper video
After landing on its side, the Jeep was surrounded by armed state troopers
Dovi was pulled from the Jeep through the roof of his overturned vehicle
Officials haven’t identified the victims, one of whom appeared to be missing an arm, according to the 911 caller.
The police spokesperson said in an email on Thursday they were having difficulty tracking down the victims’ next of kin.
Prior to the chase, Dovi was said to have gotten into a confrontation with Michael Jones
WPLG reported, citing police sources, that the victims, believed to be in their 40s, were stabbed to death.
NBC Miami chopper footage showed graphic images of a deceased man dressed in a brown T-shirt and jeans sprawled on blood-stained sand.
A few steps away, a second man in a yellow T-shirt is seen laying motionless on his side, with blood surrounding his body.
About three hours after the grisly discovery and about a mile to the south, a Jeep Wrangler clipped a Porsche and a golf cart before leading more than a dozen police officers on a nearly 20-mile chase, which was captured by a news helicopter.
It ended when a state trooper’s patrol car clipped the Jeep and caused it to spin out and flip over on Interstate 95. Chopper video showed officers pull Dovi from the Jeep after the crash and take him into custody.
Investigators deemed Dovi a person of interest in the fatal stabbings because they found several edged weapons and freshly-laundered clothing in his Jeep, according to police.
Dovi allegedly clipped Jones’ Porsche after pushing him to the ground
Dovi, from Pennsylvania, is seen being taken into custody at the conclusion of the pursuit
Dovi appeared remotely at a court hearing Wednesday and had his bond set at $97,000
Dovi’s younger brother, Chris, also attended the bond hearing and told a judge his sibling suffers from schizophrenia
The chase followed Dovi’s violent run-in with local property owner Michael Jones, who arrived at a lot he owns in Fort Lauderdale to find the man’s Jeep parked on his land.
Speaking to WSVN, Jones said that he confronted Dovi and asked him to move his Jeep.
‘He approached me, he pushed me on the ground. He was acting crazy. I defused the situation by saying, “You’re right, you’re right.” I got back in my car, I called 911,’ Jones told the station.
Jones said that before driving away, Dovi crashed his Jeep into his Porsche.
‘I saw this guy, there was crazy in his eyes. I know crazy when I see it,’ he said of the suspect.
Grisly: A man’s lifeless body is seen sprawled on blood-stained sand on a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, beach early Tuesday morning
A second man was found dead on the same beach just steps away from the first body
The grisly discovery was made by police at around 6.15am in the 3000 block of North Ocean Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale
As of Thursday afternoon, he has been charged with eight counts related to the vehicle chase, including aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault and criminal mischief, but he hasn’t been charged in the stabbings.
A man identifying himself as Dovi’s younger brother, Chris, attended a Wednesday bond hearing remotely and told the judge that Dovi, who lives in Pennsylvania, suffers from schizophrenia and hadn’t been taken his medications for a year.
The brother said Daniel Dovi was deeply affected by their mother’s passing in November 2018.
Dovi was being held in the Broward County jail on $97,000 bond.
The Sun-Sentinel reported that Dovi has criminal records in Texas and Maine dating back to the 1990s, which included assault, trespass and weapons charges.
Police say the victims died of stab wounds; the deaths were labeled ‘suspicious’
One of the victims is being wheeled away in a body bag from the scene