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A woman from Florida leaped into the ocean to aid a swimmer in distress, only to discover later that she might have been assisting a suspect in a double murder case.
Known only as Belinda, she recounted to WPBF that during her morning stroll along Riomar Beach in Vero Beach on March 24, she heard someone faintly calling for help.
Upon noticing the individual in apparent distress, Belinda hurried into the sea, guiding the swimmer towards the shore by instructing him to float on his back and let the waves assist him.
“He was telling me he was exhausted,” she shared. “I encouraged him, saying, ‘Get on your back and let the waves carry you. You can make it. Come on.'”
Subsequently, Vero Beach Police released footage showing a woman tending to a man they identified as Jesse Ellis, a suspect in the alleged murders of his wife, Stacie Mason, and her companion, Danny Ooley, earlier that day.
“I said, ‘Are you all right?’” Belinda recalled. “And he said, ‘No, I’m exhausted. I would never go out that far again’… And he said, ‘I think I’m going to take a long vacation.’”
Belinda was unaware that Ellis was wanted in connection to the murders, but told WPBF it wouldn’t have changed her decision to intervene.
“I could not leave anyone in the water, no matter what,” she said. “Everybody’s going through something.”
What are the Allegations Against Jesse Ellis?
Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey said during a March 25 press conference that Ellis is suspected of gunning down his wife of 13 years and her alleged partner around 7 a.m. that morning at a downtown library parking lot, where Mason and Ooley had arranged to meet.
Ellis allegedly opened fire on the victims—who were both employees with Indian River County—as they sat in Ooley’s vehicle, then fled the area and went to South Beach, where a witness reported seeing him walk into the ocean “fully clothed” and called 911, Currey said.
The fire department responded and launched a zodiac-style boat into the water around 8:30 a.m. to make contact with the man—who was now about 900 yards off the shore—but he gave emergency responders another name and insisted he didn’t need any help, according to the press conference.
Indian River County Fire Chief David Johnson later explained at a March 27 press conference that emergency personnel were not aware at the time that the man could have been Ellis.
“You cannot kidnap someone just because they’re doing what they want to do in a public place,” Johnson said as to why they didn’t force him to come back ashore. “He was awake and alert. He was out swimming.”
According to Currey’s comments at the press conference, other witnesses reported seeing a man they believed was Ellis around 11 a.m. closer to the shore near the Ocean Reef resort.
“They assisted him the shore,” Currey explained. “He said he had a cramp and that he was okay.”
It’s unclear whether Belinda may have been one of those witnesses or if she interacted with Ellis earlier in the day. Oxygen reached out to Vero Beach Police but did not receive an immediate reply.
Police Find Writings Showing Jesse Ellis Had Been in Distress
Police released an image of a man they believed to be Ellis moving south along the beach around 11:10 a.m.
When investigators located his truck near South Beach at 12:45 p.m. they found wet clothes inside—suggesting he had returned to the vehicle—an empty holster and a .380-caliber magazine.
Police also found several written documents that Currey said “were indicative of his intention to harm himself or end his life.”
He added, “One of them said, ‘Sorry, guys,’ and that was it, and he signed it.”
In other writings, which Currey said dated back to early March, Ellis allegedly wrote that he couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep and wanted to “crawl in a hole.”
The 64-year-old’s current whereabouts remain unknown.
“We have his driver’s license. We have his passport,” Currey said during the March 27 press conference. “He’s flagged at any airport with Homeland Security.”
Police also have Currey’s wallet and credit cards and said there has been no activity on his accounts since the murders.
“We want to say, without question, to turn yourself in,” Currey added in a message directly to Ellis. “Make it safe for yourself to be turned in.”
He’s currently wanted on two counts of first-degree premeditated murder.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to contact Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 800-273-8477.