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Scott Lang is tracked down through an e-mail he sent and arrested in Statesboro, Ga.
By CHRIS TISCH and LEON M. TUCKER
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 26, 2001
CLEARWATER -- A five-day manhunt ended Friday when murder suspect Scott Lang was captured in Georgia.
Lang was being held at the Bulloch County Jail late Friday night, said Detective James Winskey of the Statesboro Police Department.
"We knew he was in the area and called police up there and asked them to be on the lookout," Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice said. "We had a way of finding out he was in the area. The detectives were tracking him."
Lang, 17, is suspected of shooting to death Richard E. Hosking, 55, on Tuesday afternoon. Investigators say he then assaulted Hosking's daughter, who is his ex-girlfriend, and stole the family's 1997 silver Honda Civic.
Pinellas sheriff's Sgt. Greg Tita said detectives tracked Lang through an e-mail. He said he did not know if it was the same e-mail that Lang sent his brother, Mark, on Thursday.
In that e-mail, Lang said he was filled with remorse.
"I don't know where to begin, in one weeks time, I have hurt everyone who cares the most about me. I have killed another person, and I have ruined the lives of many people."
Pinellas deputies were en route to Statesboro Friday night, said Winskey, who said he was on the way to pick them up at the airport about 11 p.m.
Lang has ties to Statesboro, the city where he and his older brother, Mark, were living when they were adopted about 12 years ago. Mark Lang, 20, said his adopted father, Steve Lang, was working as a professor at Georgia Southern University at the time of the adoption, then moved his family to Florida three years later.
Lang's pastor, the Rev. Peter Dembroski, said that Lang's adopted mother telephoned him at 5:57 p.m. with the news.
"I feel so relieved," said Dembroski, pastor of Hope Presbyterian Church in Clearwater. "I was able to call a lot of leaders."
In an apparent effort to throw investigators off his trail, Lang said in the same e-mail in which he expressed remorse that he parked the Hoskings' Honda in South Florida.
Lang wrote, "i will leave the honda, at the cocoa beach yacht club, in south miami on next to the boathouse, this afternoon, the keys will be under the right tire."
This prompted investigators to search marinas in Miami-Dade and Brevard counties. But the car was not there.
Tita said it was found in Statesboro, along with Hosking's .45-caliber handgun, which detectives think was used to kill him.
Some acquaintances of Lang predicted the e-mail was a ruse.
"I think it's a false lead," said Midge Weatherwax, whose family took Lang into their home nine months ago. "I don't think he is where he says he is."
Detectives used Lang's e-mail to alert the Brevard County Sheriff's Office that Lang might be in the area. Marinas with similar names were checked, but authorities found no sign of Lang or the Honda.
Managers at several locations in Miami checked their parking lots but found no cars matching the Honda's description and tag number.
Officers with the city of Miami Police Department also worked from a countywide bulletin and began searching Miami-Dade marinas Thursday night -- starting with the Coconut Grove Sailing Club.
Lang's original e-mail puzzled members of Hope Presbyterian Church, which both Lang and Hosking attended.
In a rambling paragraph, he admits to murder, expresses remorse and says he could never "right the wrongs I have done." Yet a few sentences later, he apparently lies about the location of the car.
"Was his contriteness real or was he just playing another game?" asked the Rev. Peter Dembroski, the church's pastor.
While detectives searched for Lang, Dembroski met with his elders and deacons Thursday. They made arrangements for a counselor to talk to members over the weekend. They also arranged for Clearwater police to patrol the church during Sunday service.
"There are people who are struggling with fear and pain so we are bringing people in to help us work through it," Dembroski said.
Before the meeting was over, church members comforted Hosking's wife, Lauren, his daughter, sister and son from a previous marriage.
"We just hugged and cried and prayed together," Dembroski said. "They needed the opportunity to allow for some love and care -- that was beautiful."
Meanwhile, Stacy Curley, a member of Hope Presbyterian, spoke on behalf of Scott's brother, Mark.
"It's a time of closure, but it's still a time for grief," she said. "It will be a long time before a lot of us are healed.
"It's not like this is the end and we're all happy," she said. "We knew Scotty and (the Hosking girl) and it is a hard issue."
- Staff writer Chris Tisch can be reached at (727) 445-4156. Staff writer Leon Tucker can be reached at (727) 445-4167.