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Grassy Creek murders
Florida holds N.C. man with link to killings
January 27, 2008
Independence, Va.
A man questioned after the slayings of three people connected with a tree farm has been taken into custody in Florida, the Grayson County Sheriff's Office said late last night.
Officials said Frederick Phillip Hammer, 48, of Crumpler, N.C., was apprehended in Punta Gorda, Fla., and taken into custody for a parole violation in North Carolina. They would not say last night whether Hammer was considered a suspect but said that a news conference would be held this afternoon.
Law-enforcement officials have said that attempted robbery apparently led to the shooting deaths Thursday of Ronald F. Hudler, 74; his son, Frederick D. Hudler, 45, and employee John S. Miller, 25, of West Jefferson, N.C.
The killings took place on Ronald Hudler's property in Mouth of Wilson, near the North Carolina border.
The younger Hudler and Miller apparently had been working on the family's tree farm and returned to Ronald Hudler's home, where they confronted people in the garage trying to steal a gun safe, the sheriff's office said in a release. Both were fatally shot.
Ronald Hudler, who often kept considerable amounts of money in the safe, was shot and killed, apparently when he came outside to investigate, authorities said.