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‘If I Get Charged With Felonies, I’ll Kill Her Then Myself’: Florida Couple Found Dead In ‘Gruesome’ Apparent Murder-Suicide
“This is probably the most gruesome crime scene I’ve ever worked—the worst in 37 years that I’ve ever seen,” Det. Sgt. Lenard Diaz of the Bradenton Beach Police Department said of finding Sabrina Marie Dumdei and Zachary John Winton dead.
A Florida woman and her boyfriend, who had a history of violence and threatening behavior, were found dead in a blood-soaked Bradenton Beach triplex in what authorities are investigating as a murder-suicide.
The victims have been identified as Sabrina Marie Dumdei, 37, and Zachary John Winton, 34, according to the Anna Maria Island Sun.
“This is probably the most gruesome crime scene I’ve ever worked—the worst in 37 years that I’ve ever seen,” Det. Sgt. Lenard Diaz of the Bradenton Beach Police Department told the outlet.
Diaz told Oxygen.com that based on the evidence at the crime scene, it appears that Winton killed Dumdei and then killed himself.
“It’s still under investigation as far as what actually happened. That’s going to take a while,” he said. “We are just really trying to put the pieces together. It was a pretty gruesome crime scene so I don’t know if we’ll ever really find out what exactly happened. We just know what the outcome is.”
Police were called to the home around 2:40 p.m. Saturday after Dumdei’s father discovered her dead in the home.
“Apparently the father had gone in and saw his daughter laying on the living room floor deceased and he called police once he realized that she was dead and the boyfriend was dead,” Diaz said.
The victim’s father had gone to check on his daughter after one of his other daughters told him she was unable to reach Dumdei through text messaging, which had been unusual.
“He stated that he was on his way to the beach anyway so he’ll just stop by to make sure everything’s okay and that’s how he discovered her,” Diaz said.
Investigators believe the couple died sometime earlier that day, possibly between 2 a.m. and 10 a.m., he said.
Diaz declined to release details about how the couple may have died or what weapons were discovered within the home.
“I was at the autopsies this morning which answered some questions, but still has a lot of questions to be answered,” he said.
There had been a history of domestic abuse between the couple, which seemed to escalate within the last month, authorities said.
Diaz said the Bradenton Beach Police arrested Winton in September for domestic battery after he allegedly threatened Dumdei with a knife.
“Defendant and victim had been arguing for the last two days, but today victim said it got worse. Victim stated Winton refused to let her leave the house or his sight by threats of violence. She felt confined. Defendant then grabbed her by the face and held a razor knife to her neck and said, ‘Leave and see what happens.’ Victim had a well-founded fear that Winton had the ability to carry out such a threat and that it would take place,” authorities wrote regarding an incident that took place over Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, according to court records obtained by the Anna Maria Island Sun.
The victim, later identified as Dumdei, told police Winton wouldn’t let her use her phone but she was eventually able to get away and call 911, but she hung up in the middle of the call.
“Upon my arrival, defendant was yelling and walking at victim with a large kitchen knife I observed in his right back pocket,” the affidavit said.
Winton allegedly continued to make threats about harming his girlfriend even after he was taken into custody.
“While detained in the police department, Winton made numerous threatening remarks about what he was going to do to victim when he gets out, such as ‘I will kill her. She gonna pay. If I get charged with felonies, I’ll kill her then myself. I will cut her throat,’ ” according to the affidavit.
Diaz described their relationship to Oxygen.com as “on-again, off-again” and said the couple was “always fighting.”
Winton was also arrested at the same Bradenton address on Aug. 10 after a verbal argument between the couple escalated into a physical fight that left the victim with “sustained broken blood vessels to the right eye, as well as a large bruise that extends from the eyebrow to the bridge of the nose and also covers the right cheek,” according to court documents obtained by the Island Sun.
The victim declined to press charges in that incident.
Dumdei was also arrested in July after Winton reported that she had thrown a can at him that cut him in the lip. The charges were ultimately dropped in that case as well.
Dumdei was arrested in October 2018 on charges of driving under the influence after officers allegedly pulled her over after getting a report of a reckless driver. She was found to be intoxicated more than three times the legal limit and had 21 Clonazepam pills and other drugs without a prescription in her purse, according to an earlier article in The Islander.
