A South Carolina man has been charged with first-degree murder as police accuse him of killing a man and a woman in Florida on Sunday, two weeks after he is suspected of murdering a man at a laundromat in Tennessee where he lived recently.
Stanley ‘Woo Woo’ Mossburg, 35, held hostage overnight until Monday an elderly man who came home to find his two roommates tied up and both were eventually stabbed to death.
The surviving victim managed to flee to a neighbor’s house Monday after 14 hours captive, around 6pm when Mossburg temporarily left the property, and he contacted police who engaged in an overnight stand-off with the suspect that lasted until Tuesday morning.
‘Mossburg told our victim he wanted to be a serial killer. He said he likes killing people,’ Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, said in a press conference Tuesday morning. ‘We know he’s killed at least three people. He tried to kill our deputies last night. This guy needs the death penalty if there’s ever anyone who needed the death penalty.’
Stanley ‘Woo Woo’ Mossburg, 35, is suspected of killing someone in Tennessee October 1, then killing two roommates of an elderly man in Florida on Sunday
An elderly man returned home to find his male roommate dead and female friend tied up before she was eventually killed. Pictured is the nearby scene when Mossburg was captured
Cops initially found no connection to the Winter Garden area where the two homicides occurred and where he allegedly told a surviving victim his goal was to kill 11.
The suspect had stayed in a house nearby the crime scene with people who ended up being witnesses after he showed up and said he just needed place to crash.
Police said the witness reported he wasn’t at their home Monday night but he was Sunday night.
Sheriff Judd spoke about the suspect’s route on Tuesday, admitting they didn’t yet know how Mossburg got to Seffner in Hillsborough County but there he stole a vehicle from a car lot on October 9 that got him over to Winter Garden, cops say.
He then stole another motor, traveled through Tennessee, Spartanburg, South Carolina and Atlanta. Mossburg got a bus to Orlando with money from his sister, and it’s not clear how he got through Polk County but he then allegedly stole a black Ford 250 truck.
Sheriff Judd said that on Sunday, Mossburg was seen around 4pm on Ring video at a home on the north east corners of 16th Street and Winter Haven. The device notified the owner of activity and they went out to confront Mossburg, telling him to leave, which he did. The residence connects to the victims’ home.
At 10.30pm on Sunday, the surviving victim arrived home, where he lived with his two friends, and heard the female victim say: ‘Just do what he says and he won’t hurt you.’
Seeing the female victim bound in chair, Mossburg approached the surviving male victim saying, ‘I have guns and knives, I’ll kill you if you resist me.’
Suspect was part of a stand-off with police when he returned and shot at cops multiples times in the overnight stand-off lasting until 5.10am Tuesday
Law enforcement report, Mossburg told the live male victim: ‘Don’t look in master bedroom, you won’t like what you see.’
He then took him into a room with computers, ripped out cords and tied him to chair before demanding money and valuables from a safe with nothing but passports and documents.
Mossburg snapped: ‘I know you have more,’ forcing the surviving male to insist: ‘I don’t have any more.’
The suspected killer then revealed to the hostage that his first victim in the home tried to fight back ‘so I made him suffer before I killed him’.
Mossburg kept the surviving man at residence overnight and returned to see the tied up hostage understanding that he ‘is elderly on medicine’, the Sheriff said.
That’s when he broke the news that ‘he killed female victim quickly because she was cooperative’.
‘He slashed and murdered victim in Tennessee with knives,’ Sheriff Judd told reporters on Tuesday. He added that after killing the male and female in the Florida home on Sunday, he ‘poured bleach on victims, got a mop and bucket and cleaned up.’
Police heard how when the hostage asked for the air conditioner to be adjusted he refused because he wanted to keep the house cool so the corpses didn’t smell.
Mossburg then sat on the porch throughout the following morning and loaded property into the female victim’s car, telling the surviving man he will return to ‘deal with the bodies’ but ‘if you leave I’m gonna kill you’.
In fear he hadn’t really left, the live victim stayed put from around 12pm-1pm but around 6pm ran to a neighbor and dialed 911.
Police responded and set up a perimeter, warning locals to look out for a stolen SUV.
the sheriff said if it wasn’t for Captain Horseman spotting the stolen vehicle while patrolling the area, Mossburg may have killed more people.
Around 9.10pm on Monday, Captain Horseman spotted the 2013 black Hyundai Tucson belonging to the female victim less than two blocks away from the home, after the suspect drove back.
Referring to a car that now had white spray painted over it, he told Sheriff Grady Judd: ‘That vehicle wasn’t there two minutes ago.’
Cops trying to kick down a door to another residence on Avenue C, which also had a second vehicle reported stolen outside, were shot at twice. A SWAT team tried to talk to Mossburg throughout Monday night from 10.30pm until 5.10am Tuesday, but are shot at again.
Eventually they got in using an armored vehicle through the garage and located the suspect under a pool table, which broke and fell down during the confrontation.
ABC News pictured the scene where Mossburg was captured.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, said in a press conference Tuesday morning. ‘We know he’s killed at least three people. He tried to kill our deputies last night. This guy needs the death penalty if there’s ever anyone who needed the death penalty’
A K9 sent in after cops said they spotted what they think was an arm, was grabbed with two hands by Mossburg, giving a SWAT team – who could see he was not holding a gun, the opportunity to detain him.
Mossburg was taken to hospital for dog bites, and he was transferred to County Jail Tuesday morning. His he due to appear for a hearing at 1pm on Wednesday,
In Polk County, he faces two charges of first-degree murder of the local victims and attempted murder against deputies.
The Sheriff was shocked he didn’t flee to South Carolina and said they can’t verify whether the alleged victims two through six are real.
‘We hope and pray there are no more victims that he’s just bragging,’ Sheriff Judd said.
But Judd asked the public to let them know of any more stolen vehicles in case they were connected to the wanted fugitive from Greeneville, Tennessee.
Speaking about the man who has a history of stealing vehicles, Sheriff Judd said: ‘I’m not gonna let people tell me low-level shouldn’t be locked up.’
He added the majority of Mossburg’s 30 charges are non-violent.
‘He just likes to steal and use drugs. By the way he’s a spree killer but let’s not concern ourselves with that,’ the Sheriff sarcastically quipped Tuesday morning.
‘Legislators, when you start talking about low-level suspects, gag me with a spoon,’ Sheriff Judd added.
‘When you kill people with a knife, it’s up-close, personal, based on anger revenge, evil. He didn’t shoot from a distance… all victims we’re aware of had multiple cut wounds as a result of this evil person.’