Lobato brothers get life sentences after 'proud' confessions to Polk County murder
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POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Two brothers who were convicted of murdering a 21-year-old in Polk County have both been sentenced to life in prison, the state attorney’s office said Tuesday.

Angel Lobato received his life sentence last week. While his brother, Jo Lobato, was sentenced late last year. Both were charged with first-degree murder and convicted by a Polk County jury.

The two brothers were still teenagers when investigators said they plotted to rob and kill 21-year-old Danne Frazier.

Angel Lobato (left) and Jo Lobato (right) (Credit: State Attorney’s Office, 10th Judicial Circuit)

Frazier’s mother reported him missing on Nov. 4, 2020, telling police he had not been answering his phone all day. She also noticed suspicious activity on his bank account.

Flagler County deputies spotted Frazier’s car on the night of Nov. 6, 2020, and found Jo Lobato in the driver’s seat. His brother, Angel, was in the passenger’s seat.

Frazier’s body was found only days later, on Nov. 10, in an overgrown wooded area in Lake Wales. Polk County deputies said he had suffered extreme trauma.

When crime scene investigators processed Frazier’s car, they found several spots of blood both inside and outside, and some of Frazier’s clothing inside the trunk. They soon found probable cause to arrest the Lobato brothers in the theft of Frazier’s car, among other related crimes.

Danne Frazier (Credit: Lakeland Police Department)

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd called the brothers’ confessions afterward “horrific,” stating that they both talked about “how proud they were.”

Jo Lobato said he began talking with Frazier on social media about a month before the murder. The Lobato brothers were looking to “hit a lick” to obtain a car and money, and saw Frazier as an easy target, according to the state attorney’s office.

Jo Lobato pretended he wanted a relationship with Frazier and eventually convinced Frazier to meet up with him in the Central Park area of Winter Haven. It was at that point that the brothers carried out their plan to rob and kill Frazier.

Angel Lobato hid behind a tree until Jo Lobato and Fraizer arrived at Lake Howard in Frazier’s car. Detectives said the brothers had already planned out the spot of the attack.

Angle Lobato then came out from behind the tree with a metal bat and struck Fraizer numerous times. The brothers also cut Fraizer’s throat with a knife to make sure he was “gone,” officials said.

They then loaded Frazier’s body into the car and drove him to the Lake Wales area where they dumped his body.

“When we interviewed them, they were pure evil in the flesh,” Judd said after the brothers’ arrests. “They bragged about it, they talked about how, you know, they’d have street cred. They’d have their stripes. They’d be respected on the streets because they’d done this murder.”

Years later, and with both brothers sentenced, State Attorney Brian Haas thanked Assistant State Attorney Ralph Guerra and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and Lakeland Police Department for “pursuing justice” in the case.

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