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The battered body of Simon Charles Clarke, 41, a real estate broker, was found Wednesday night by colleagues.
By RYAN DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 1, 2001
NEW PORT RICHEY -- The crime scene is a 5,337-square-foot house and six-car garage being built on a wooded coastal property.
That's where co-workers on Wednesday night found 41-year-old real estate broker Simon Charles Clarke, an Englishman who came to Florida seven years ago. The Sarasota resident had been beaten to death.
Like the house, the New Port Richey police homicide investigation is still taking shape.
Police would not release anymore information Friday.
The single-story home will have a wraparound porch, six bedrooms, a 27-foot by 16-foot master bedroom and a room being built for wine storage.
Construction permits for the garage were issued in 1997 and for the house in March.
One of Clarke's business partners and friends, David Pollard, is having the house built on the long-vacant property.
Colleagues described Clarke as a gentleman.
"He was firm in business but very, very kind," said friend and co-worker Gary Young.
The effects lingered Friday with Clarke's friends.
"We're devastated here," said Josie Smith, one of the co-workers who found Clarke's body.
Smith and Clarke worked for Universal Vacations, which manages luxury rental properties on the Gulf Coast. Nearly all of its customers are from the United Kingdom, Smith said.
It has offices in Naples, Fort Myers, Bradenton and New Port Richey, 4924 U.S. 19.
When they lived in England, Clarke, his wife and his two sons, now 11 and 16, loved Florida.
After they moved to Florida, Clarke opened the Universal Vacations office in Bradenton, Smith said. In April, another company bought Universal Vacations' assets. Clarke stayed on as a consultant until last month. He still owned Universal Vacations Realty, a property sales business.
His family in Sarasota had been looking for him when his body turned up inside the house.
"This doesn't happen in New Port Richey," Smith said. "Not in Sea Forest."