Florida triple murder case sees reward raised to $30K as police seek motive for brutal massacre
BARTOW, FLORIDA: The investigation into the brutal murder of three friends in Frostproof, Florida, has intensified as law enforcement has offered a reward of $30,000 for any information leading them to the killers. All three men – Damion Tillman, 23; Keven Springfield, 30; and Brandon Rollins, 27 - died on Friday night, July 17, after going for a fishing trip to a popular lake in Frostproof which is located around 70 miles south of Orlando in central Florida.
The trio was brutally murdered after being beaten up and shot while they were out on the fishing trip. One of the friends, Brandon, had even called his father and had said "help” as he died. Their bodies were found near Lake Streety Road and US Highway 27. The police officers also suspected that there was more than one murder and that the victims knew their killers.
Brandon’s mother, Dottie Payton, has now said that she does not want the murderers to “ever see daylight again”. Payton added that at around 10 pm, her husband Cyril Rollins got a phone call from Brandon. “He was hard to understand because there was so much static. but we heard him say ‘Come help me. Help me.’ He sounded very weak, and I could tell he was hurting. He sounded different,” the mother said on Monday, July 20.
Payton also shared that after the call, Cyril knew where to go because it was a favorite fishing spot. After reaching the spot, the father found his son as well as his two friends severely beaten and shot following which he called paramedics for help. But by the time help arrived, the trio died at the remote location.
In a press conference, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said that investigators are piecing together each and every minute detail to solve the case, but they also need the public’s help. Judd added that the triple murder did not appear to be drug motivated or a domestic issue or robbery since several valuables were left untouched by the killers.
Payton also said that she too has these questions, like what motivated the killers to kill her son and his friends. “We had a normal day Friday. Brandon got up and went to work, then came home and got dog food. He tinkered on the boat for a little while because they were going out in it Saturday morning, and he was getting it all ready,” she said, adding: “You could tell when something was bothering him because Brandon had a habit of rolling little balls out of the stuffing from a pillow when he had something on his mind. I always knew, but he hadn’t been doing that.”
The mother said that Brandon was an employee of a lawn care business, but loved to spend his free time hunting wild hogs. “That was his passion. Everybody knew Brandon was a hog hunter. He’d catch them and sell them,” Payton said. She added Brandon loved fishing as much as he loved hunting wild hogs.
Talking about his two friends, Payton said: “Brandon met Damion later, but they were friends from the first time they met. Damion liked to fish, but he wasn’t much on hunting. Keven was a mechanic and he loved to fix things, but I never saw him when he was wearing a pair of shoes.” The mother said she wants justice for the men as soon as possible. “I hope that their [murderers] mothers have to deal with what I’m having to deal with now,” she added.
On Tuesday, July 21, Judd said he is committed to bringing the killers to justice. He has also raised the reward from $5,000 to $15,000. But then the Florida Department of Law Enforcement also got involved in the case and added another $10,000 to the reward, and the Florida Sheriff’s Association added $5,000 more, bringing the reward to $30,000 for information that helps solve the case. “We want to be the voice for those young men who lost their voice on Friday night when their life was snuffed out by some nasty, evil person or persons,” Judd added.