Taiwan Blandin.
This reminds me of that old adage: “You can take the moon cricket out of the jungle, but you can’t take the jungle out of the moon cricket.”
At least I think that’s how it goes.
This is some hardcore nigging from beginning to end.
WFLA:
Investigators released disturbing new details Wednesday in the murder of an elderly woman in Polk County. A manhunt for the suspect is still underway.
Deputies say 30-year-old Taiwan Blandin killed the 80-year-old woman in Frostproof on Tuesday. The daughter of the victim spoke with 8 On Your Side and identified her as Peggy Schiering.
In a news conference Wednesday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said a “bizarre” and “tragic” chain of events started early Tuesday morning in Fort Meade.
Judd says it all started when Blandin broke into a home in Fort Meade while an 18-year-old girl was asleep inside. The victim told deputies Blandin was standing naked in front of her when she woke up and told her he was going to sexually batter her. The sheriff says Blandin then pulled a knife on the girl, put it to her throat and made her perform oral sex on him.
“He rounded up four firearms from the residence as well,” Judd said. “Two handguns and two rifles.”
Blandin is then accused of “hog-tying” the victim, wrapping her in a blanket, putting her in his car and taking off.
“She said they left Fort Meade and went toward Frostproof,” Judd said. “And she said before we got to Highway 27, he turned on some dirt roads that she didn’t recognize…and he stopped at a dirt path.”
When Blandin stopped at the dirt path, Sheriff Judd says he got out and opened a gate, then got back in his car and drove behind some bushes to a mobile home that was not visible from the road.
The victim told deputies Blandin then went to the front door of the mobile home and knocked.
“She said an elderly lady came to the door with white hair. They had a conversation and (Blandin) went into the residence with her,” the sheriff said.
At that point, deputies say the 18-year-old had freed herself and got into the front seat of the car to take off back toward Fort Meade. She told deputies she pulled into the neighbor’s yard across the street from where she lives so she could use their phone. Blandin still had her cell phone on him, deputies say.
The 18-year-old said just moments later, Blandin pulled in driving the red van she saw outside the elderly woman’s home in Frostproof. Judd says Blandin jumped out of the car and started shooting at the girl, who started running away.
“While he’s shooting at her, he shoots an 81-year-old lady sitting in her wheelchair. It hits her in the foot,” Judd said.
Blandin then jumped back into his own car and took off, Judd says.
When detectives got to the scene to start investigating what happened, the 18-year-old told them she knew who Blandin was. Judd said during his news conference the girl told them Blandin went to school with her boyfriend.
Deputies were then sent to the home where Blandin allegedly took the red van. When deputies got there, Judd says there was smoke in the house because Blandin tried to set it on fire.
When they got inside, deputies say they found an 80-year-old woman who had been shot twice and killed.
Peggy Schiering.