70-year-old strangled and hit with golf cart, Florida cops say. His cousin is charged

A man is accused of killing his cousin by strangling him and running him over with a golf cart, according to Florida authorities.

Deputies responded to a home in Jay on July 19 and found 70-year-old Stephen Lee Jernigan dead, according to a news release from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Jernigan’s wife had called deputies “hysterical” and said she had found her husband dead underneath a golf cart on their property, according to an arrest report from the sheriff’s office.

When deputies arrived, they found him with cuts on his face, head and lower extremities, the report says.

He was declared dead just after 5:30 p.m. on July 19, the sheriff’s office says.

Jernigan’s wife later told deputies that she’d heard him having a “loud argument” with his cousin that she thought became physical, the report says.

After hearing the argument, she heard them leave the house through a back door, according to the report. Around 45 minutes later, she went to check on her husband and found him dead, deputies said.

They arrested Jernigan’s cousin, Robert Patrick Jernigan, 53, on July 20, according to the sheriff’s office. He is charged with first-degree homicide and is being held without bond, according to jail records.

The sheriff’s office said the killing was “not a random act.”

Friends and family remembered Stephen Jernigan as a good person who was always willing to help others.

“You were a great guy and a great neighbor,” AJ Maltais wrote on Facebook. “You helped us when we needed it and always treated us with respect.”

“I was just talking to him the other day,” another user, Waylon Pedicord, commented on a Facebook post. “Ran into him at Tractor Supply as well and we always take time to talk. RIP my friend.”

Jay is about 180 miles northwest of Tallahassee.