VERO BEACH, Fla. — A woman rescued a struggling swimmer in Florida last month. Turns out, the swimmer was the suspect on the run in connection with a double murder.
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The woman, named Belinda, was out on a morning walk in late March in Vero Beach, Florida, when she heard a man screaming for help from the ocean, WPBF via CNN Newsource reported.
“I could hear like a faint, ‘Help, help, help,’ and I looked and I seen someone going like this, like they were, they were in distress,” Belinda said.
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She ran into the ocean and told the man to get on his back and let the waves carry him to shore.
“So he got on his back, and he said, ‘I’m exhausted. I’m tired,’” she said. “And I said, ‘Do it! Get on your back and stay on your back. Let the waves carry you. You can do it, come on.’”
Police now believe the man is double homicide suspect Jesse Ellis.
He’s accused of shooting and killing his estranged wife, Stacie Mason, and Danny Ooley.
Belinda told WPBF that all the time this was going on, she had no idea the man she helped was a double homicide suspect.
“I could not leave anyone in the water no matter what,” she said. “Everybody’s going through something.”
Police are still searching for Ellis.
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