Woman found slain had history of abuse

She had accused her husband of violating a restraining order granted in July after he was charged with domestic battery. No arrests have been made in her slaying.

By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 1, 2002

HOMOSASSA -- Days before she was reported missing, a woman found dead in the Withlacoochee State Forest accused her husband of violating a restraining order she had secured against him.

In the court filing, Debra Sue Owens said her husband, Gerald, had threatened her life when she said she wanted to end their one-year marriage.

"I asked him for a divorce and he told me never, he'd kill me first, then he'd know where I was at and no one else would be with me," Debra Owens wrote in the document, filed at the Citrus County courthouse the morning of Sept. 25.

Owens, 41, of Homosassa Springs was found dead Saturday night in a clump of woods near County Road 480, her body riddled with bullets, according to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.

No suspect has been identified in the case, said Gail Tierney, a Sheriff's Office spokeswoman. "I don't think at this point anybody has been ruled out," she said.

The Sheriff's Office is offering a $2,500 reward for any information that leads to an arrest in the case, Tierney added.

Attempts to reach Gerald Owens on Monday were not successful.

The two had a stormy relationship marked by violent arguments and occasional reconciliations.

Debra Owens was living in a shelter for battered women at the time of her death, according to her mother, Sue Wightman.

Wightman said her daughter called her two or three times a day. Their last telephone conversation was Tuesday, before the notice of violation was filed.

When she hadn't heard from her daughter by Friday, Wightman contacted the Sheriff's Office.

She said she did not want to comment on the relationship between her daughter and son-in-law.

"At this point, we're going to leave it to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office, and I know justice is going to be done," Wightman said.

It is the second time tragedy had befallen the family this year: In March, Wightman's son, Scott Roy Miller, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the woods near Homosassa.

Gerald Owens, 64, is currently out on bail after being charged with domestic battery in June. He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to be in court Oct. 8.

According to his arrest report, Debra Owens told sheriff's deputies her husband was drunk and pushed her into a dresser the night of June 23.

Gerald Owens was released from jail on $10,000 bail on June 27.

The same day, Debra Owens asked for a protective order barring her husband from having any contact with her. In the court filing, she said she has known him 15 years and detailed a pattern of abuse she said repeated itself time after time.

Debra Owens said the night of his arrest, her husband was drunk, "and, like always, tore up things around my house, threw ashtrays and broke glasses. . . . He hit me in the head where my hair is and freaked out."

The protective order was granted July 8.

It was not the first time Debra Owens had sought the court's help in protecting herself from her husband. She first requested a restraining order in April, which was granted.

In her application, also on file at the courthouse, Debra Owens described a drunken fight during which her husband punched her in the eye, screamed at her, threw a garbage can filled with dog food on the floor and threatened her life.

Debra Owens asked the court to dismiss the petition on May 31, an apparent attempt to reconcile with her husband.

"I really wanted to try and give him a chance but he's only getting worse and by me backing down I'm not helping him get any help and the situation only seems to be getting worse," she wrote in her second application for a protective order.

The violence in the relationship wasn't always limited to one side, according to court documents. Debra Owens was arrested in January after her husband told sheriff's deputies she hit him repeatedly during a fight over her prescription medicine.

According to an arrest report, Debra Owens had been drinking all day and became enraged when her husband asked to take control of her prescriptions.

The sheriff's deputy who prepared the report noted Gerald Owens had several cuts on his forehead and blood trickling into his eye.

The State Attorney's Office dropped the case after Gerald Owens recanted his statement, court records showed.

According to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records, Gerald Owens has an extensive history of arrests stretching back to 1968. His record includes multiple charges of battery and possession of drugs, the documents showed.

-- Carrie Johnson can be reached at 860-7309 or cjohnson@sptimes.com.

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