Post by LadyBlue on Jul 8, 2007 14:15:33 GMT -5
EAST MANATEE -- While police searched for a missing woman among the yards and lakes of the affluent subdivision where she lived, details emerged of a bloody scene at her home and a stepson with an alleged grudge who may have been there.
Manatee County authorities were still trying to piece together evidence to charge Thomas Fast, 52, with his stepmother's disappearance.
Susan Fast, 60, has not been seen since Friday night. Her husband, Bruce, believes she is dead, and that his son murdered her because she stood in the way of an inheritance.
Bail for Thomas Fast was raised Sunday from $2,000 to $100,000 after a prosecutor said Fast could flee the area if released. He was being held in the Manatee County jail on a concealed weapon charge after being arrested with a pistol and an empty magazine early Saturday.
At Sunday's hearing, a detective cited evidence of a violent struggle within the Fasts' home: 14 blood spots, a set of steak knives in the dishwasher, two rugs recently washed, a fresh cut on Fast's elbow and no sign of Susan Fast.
Detective Ricardo Alvarado told a judge that Fast admitted being at his stepmother's home and in her Lexus SUV. He said Fast told police he was looking at his mother's jewelry.
Detectives found a set of steak knives in the dishwasher. Her husband of 30 years, Bruce Fast, said Susan did not usually clean those knives in the dishwasher.
Bruce Fast, 74, told the Herald-Tribune that his son had been looking for him and his wife for the last three weeks. He fears that his son ambushed Susan outside of their home Friday afternoon.
The father called authorities when he arrived home from a business trip in the Bahamas early Saturday and discovered that his wife and her vehicle missing. Bruce Fast is president of Construction Team Management, and Susan, his wife of more than 30 years, is manager at the business.
Susan Fast's Lexus SUV, its license plate removed, was discovered Saturday night at a vacant home in east Bradenton.
Thomas Fast was arrested early Saturday after he took a cab from East Bradenton to a shopping plaza off State Road 70 East near Interstate 75. His pickup truck was in the parking lot, about a mile from his stepmother's home in the Tara subdivision.
Authorities were waiting by the truck when Fast pulled up in a taxi cab about 3 a.m., according to sheriff's reports.
An officer found a loaded .22-caliber pistol in a duffel bag that Fast allowed a deputy to search. Investigators found a second magazine, which was empty, in the same bag.
Fast's permit to carry a concealed firearm was revoked in January, according to a letter from the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs. Police found that note in the bag with the gun.
Richard Fast said his brother's permit was revoked "due to mental health reasons" but would not elaborate.
A Bradenton police officer found Susan Fast's SUV at an abandoned house in East Bradenton, less than a mile from where Thomas Fast reportedly summoned the cab. A neighbor told detectives he saw a man get out of the vehicle carrying two bags.
Bruce Fast described his son as a mentally ill nomad and said he is not cooperating with the investigation, which leads him to believe that his wife is dead. Thomas Fast suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, his father said.
Bruce Fast told the Herald-Tribune that his son has long disliked Susan Fast because she stands in the way of an inheritance.
In court Sunday, Thomas Fast told a different story: "Unfortunately, they pretty much turned on me," he said of his father and stepmother.
www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070702/NEWS/707020462
Manatee County authorities were still trying to piece together evidence to charge Thomas Fast, 52, with his stepmother's disappearance.
Susan Fast, 60, has not been seen since Friday night. Her husband, Bruce, believes she is dead, and that his son murdered her because she stood in the way of an inheritance.
Bail for Thomas Fast was raised Sunday from $2,000 to $100,000 after a prosecutor said Fast could flee the area if released. He was being held in the Manatee County jail on a concealed weapon charge after being arrested with a pistol and an empty magazine early Saturday.
At Sunday's hearing, a detective cited evidence of a violent struggle within the Fasts' home: 14 blood spots, a set of steak knives in the dishwasher, two rugs recently washed, a fresh cut on Fast's elbow and no sign of Susan Fast.
Detective Ricardo Alvarado told a judge that Fast admitted being at his stepmother's home and in her Lexus SUV. He said Fast told police he was looking at his mother's jewelry.
Detectives found a set of steak knives in the dishwasher. Her husband of 30 years, Bruce Fast, said Susan did not usually clean those knives in the dishwasher.
Bruce Fast, 74, told the Herald-Tribune that his son had been looking for him and his wife for the last three weeks. He fears that his son ambushed Susan outside of their home Friday afternoon.
The father called authorities when he arrived home from a business trip in the Bahamas early Saturday and discovered that his wife and her vehicle missing. Bruce Fast is president of Construction Team Management, and Susan, his wife of more than 30 years, is manager at the business.
Susan Fast's Lexus SUV, its license plate removed, was discovered Saturday night at a vacant home in east Bradenton.
Thomas Fast was arrested early Saturday after he took a cab from East Bradenton to a shopping plaza off State Road 70 East near Interstate 75. His pickup truck was in the parking lot, about a mile from his stepmother's home in the Tara subdivision.
Authorities were waiting by the truck when Fast pulled up in a taxi cab about 3 a.m., according to sheriff's reports.
An officer found a loaded .22-caliber pistol in a duffel bag that Fast allowed a deputy to search. Investigators found a second magazine, which was empty, in the same bag.
Fast's permit to carry a concealed firearm was revoked in January, according to a letter from the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs. Police found that note in the bag with the gun.
Richard Fast said his brother's permit was revoked "due to mental health reasons" but would not elaborate.
A Bradenton police officer found Susan Fast's SUV at an abandoned house in East Bradenton, less than a mile from where Thomas Fast reportedly summoned the cab. A neighbor told detectives he saw a man get out of the vehicle carrying two bags.
Bruce Fast described his son as a mentally ill nomad and said he is not cooperating with the investigation, which leads him to believe that his wife is dead. Thomas Fast suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, his father said.
Bruce Fast told the Herald-Tribune that his son has long disliked Susan Fast because she stands in the way of an inheritance.
In court Sunday, Thomas Fast told a different story: "Unfortunately, they pretty much turned on me," he said of his father and stepmother.
www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070702/NEWS/707020462