Florida Keys

Sheriff’s dive team finds gun in Keys ’sea hag’ beer killing

 
 

Carolyn Dukeshire is charged with first-degree murder.
Carolyn Dukeshire is charged with first-degree murder.

rmccarthy@keynoter.com

A Monroe County Sheriff’s Office dive team has recovered the "small-caliber revolver" that authorities say was used by a Conch Key woman to kill her neighbor Sunday evening — because the neighbor would not give her a can of Busch Light beer.

Carolyn Dukeshire, a 62-year-old known by neighbors as “sea hag,” allegedly shot and killed Martin Mazur, 64, around 7:11 p.m. Sunday at Mazur's 53 N. Conch Avenue home. Dukeshire shot Mazur five times, police say.

A 17-year Keys resident, Dukeshire has no previous arrest history in Monroe County. Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Becky Herrin said investigators don’t believe she has one elsewhere.

According to a sheriff’s office report, Mazur was shot twice in the lower right abdomen, twice in the back and once in the right wrist. He died at Fishermen’s Hospital.

"It seems apparent that he was attempting to flee from the defendant when his injuries caused him to collapse," the report states.

Mazur’s reported business partner, Casey Whippo, 30, told police he and Mazur went to the Brass Monkey Lounge in Marathon to have dinner after work.

"Marty and his friend had been in. Our bartender makes up usually a hot meal for the customers on Sundays and had made up a couple of to-go boxes for her very close friend Marty to be able to have some dinner. She is completely devastated by this," Brass Monkey owner Judy Sorenson wrote on Facebook in response to a comment.

Mazur and Whippo returned to Mazur’s home around 6 p.m. and sat down at a tiki bar in the back yard.

"The defendant reportedly spoke to the victim ... and asked, ’Do you have a cold beer for me?’ Mazur reportedly replied, ’I have absolutely nothing for you,’" Deputy Michael Claudy’s report says.

Whippo told police he looked away and thought Dukeshire had "fired a cap gun of some sort" when he heard the first shot. But Mazur reportedly stood up and called for Whippo to call the police. He was shot twice more as he attempted to leave the tiki bar area.

Whippo told investigators he grabbed Dukeshire’s arms, told her not to leave and called the sheriff’s office. He said Dukeshire threw the gun into a canal behind the house during the struggle.

According to Herrin, Dukeshire admitted at the scene she "threw the gun in the canal" and that she "made a mistake."

"She was friends with [Mazur], but they had a falling out of some kind about two years ago. [We] don’t know what the falling out was about," she said.

Dukeshire, facing a first-degree murder charge, is being held with no bond at the Monroe County Detention Center on Stock Island. Information on a court appearance wasn’t available.

Mazur’s is the third confirmed homicide in the Keys this year.

For more Keys news, go to KeysNet.com

Read more Florida Keys stories from the Miami Herald

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