Susan Avalon has pleaded not guilty in separate murder cases in Hillsborough and Manatee counties.
TAMPA, Fla. — Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Susan Avalon, a 51-year-old Florida woman accused of killing two former husbands in separate shootings on Dec. 17, authorities said.
The death penalty notice raises the stakes in one of two cases against Avalon, who is accused in the deaths of Timothy Fletcher, 55, in Tampa, and David Scott, 54, in Bradenton. Court and law enforcement records say Avalon has pleaded not guilty. No trial date has been set in either county.
Authorities said the first killing happened in Hillsborough County, where Fletcher was found dead inside his Tampa home. The second shooting was reported at 2:55 p.m. in Manatee County, where deputies found Scott wounded at a home in the 7000 block of Chatum Light Run in Bradenton. Scott was still alive when deputies arrived and said the shooter was possibly his ex-wife, according to investigators. He later died at a hospital. Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells said the shooting was targeted and not random. “She knew what she was doing. It was planned,” Wells said during a news conference after Avalon’s arrest.
The Bradenton scene gave deputies several early clues, investigators said. Scott’s 15-year-old daughter was inside the home when gunfire broke out. She told deputies she heard gunshots and saw a silver Honda Odyssey leave the area. Authorities said the person who went to the door wore a gray sweatshirt and a mask and carried a Panera Bread bag. Investigators later found a spilled cup of broccoli cheddar soup in a Panera container and two 9mm shell casings near the entryway, according to court reporting on the case. Detectives also reviewed surveillance video from a nearby Panera Bread location that they said showed a person taking food from a delivery pickup shelf before leaving.
Wells said investigators tracked a silver Honda Odyssey to Avalon’s home in Citrus County. When detectives arrived, they saw Avalon with bleach and cleaning rags and said she was wiping down the inside of the vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office account. Detectives told Avalon they wanted to speak with her about her ex-husband. She allegedly replied, “Which one?” That answer led Manatee investigators to contact Tampa police for a welfare check on another former husband. Officers went to Fletcher’s home, found damage to a back door and discovered him dead from a gunshot wound, authorities said. Prosecutors later said several pieces of evidence found at Fletcher’s home connect Avalon to that killing.
The Tampa case is the one in which Hillsborough County prosecutors are seeking death. Avalon is charged there with first-degree premeditated murder in Fletcher’s death. The state attorney’s office has said aggravating factors include that the killing was cold, calculated and premeditated, that it happened during a burglary and that Avalon was involved in another violent felony at about the same time. In Manatee County, Avalon faces charges tied to Scott’s killing, including second-degree murder counts. Because the cases are filed in separate counties, they are moving on separate court tracks, with different judges, prosecutors and hearing dates.
Investigators have not released one single motive as final fact, but authorities have described long-running conflict between Avalon and the men. Officials said Avalon had children with both victims. Earlier reports from the Manatee investigation said Avalon and Scott had been divorced for about 11 years and that she owed him about $4,000 in child support. Wells also said Avalon spoke about past anger toward her former husbands after detectives approached her. Those statements have not been tested at trial. Prosecutors must prove the charges in court, and Avalon is presumed innocent unless convicted.
The case also drew attention because of a 911 call tied to Fletcher’s phone before his body was found. Court reporting said dispatchers received a call from the phone in which no one spoke, but sounds consistent with possible gunshots could be heard before the call ended. When dispatchers called back, a woman answered and said she had been exercising and had hit the button by mistake, according to reports on the court record. Investigators later said Avalon’s boyfriend identified the female voice as Avalon’s. Neighbors also reported seeing a woman in a gray hoodie and jeans leaving Fletcher’s home in a silver Honda Odyssey, according to those reports.
In Bradenton, deputies described the attack on Scott as unusually brazen because it happened in daylight in an active residential neighborhood. Wells said children were coming home from school and residents were moving through the area when the shooting happened. He said the food bag appeared to have been used to get Scott to open the door. “It doesn’t get any more brazen than this,” Wells said. Family members and neighbors have since described the shootings as a sudden rupture in two households. Scott’s teenage daughter was not physically wounded, but Wells said she was deeply traumatized by what she heard and saw.
The death penalty filing does not determine Avalon’s punishment. It means prosecutors plan to ask for a death sentence if she is convicted of first-degree murder in the Tampa case. A separate penalty phase would follow any conviction that qualifies for capital punishment, and defense attorneys would have a chance to argue against death. Avalon remains in custody while the cases move forward. She is scheduled for a Hillsborough County status hearing on July 9 and a Manatee County case management hearing on July 30. No jury has been selected.
As of Saturday, the two murder prosecutions remained active in Hillsborough and Manatee counties. The next key step is the July 9 hearing in Tampa, where the death penalty case is expected to continue before trial planning moves further ahead.
Author note: Last updated April 25, 2026.