VERO BEACH, FL — Police are searching for Jesse Scott Ellis, 64, who allegedly shot and killed his wife and her suspected lover outside the Indian River County Main Library Tuesday morning before fleeing into the Atlantic Ocean.
The victims, Stacie Ellis Mason, 49, and Danny Ooley, 56, were both longtime county employees who had been meeting secretly at the library parking lot. Ellis faces two counts of first-degree murder in what Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey described as a targeted “crime of passion” stemming from a marital dispute. The search for Ellis has expanded along miles of coastline as investigators work to determine whether he drowned or escaped after swimming nearly 900 yards offshore.
Security cameras captured the deadly encounter around 7 a.m. Tuesday when Mason and Ooley arrived separately at the downtown library. Mason exited her Volkswagen SUV and entered Ooley’s Ford Ranger pickup truck moments before Ellis appeared and opened fire with what police described as an AR-15-style automatic weapon. “The footage shows the suspect coming toward the driver’s side of the vehicle and firing multiple shots and then going around to the passenger side,” Currey told reporters at a Wednesday news conference. Ellis shot Ooley first inside the truck, then continued firing as Mason either attempted to escape or was pulled from the vehicle. The murder weapon was recovered at the scene after Ellis fled on foot.
Within 30 minutes of the shooting, a witness reported seeing a fully clothed man matching Ellis’s description enter the ocean near South Beach Park, where his gray 2022 Ford F-150 pickup truck was later found abandoned. Indian River County Fire Rescue crews launched a high-performance Zodiac boat and reached the swimmer about 900 yards offshore. “He said he was OK and he does this often,” Assistant Fire Chief Steve Greer said, adding that the man became agitated when offered assistance and gave rescuers a false name. Fire rescue personnel, unaware of any connection to the murders at the time, determined the swimmer was not in distress and returned to shore. Only later did investigators realize the swimmer may have been Ellis after comparing photographs.
The deadly confrontation stemmed from Ellis and Mason’s deteriorating 13-year marriage and her affair with Ooley, a colleague at Indian River County where both victims worked. Ellis and Mason “were in the midst of potentially separating or divorcing” and had put their home up for sale, according to Currey. The police chief revealed that Ellis had hired professional services to investigate his wife’s activities, stating “He had information of some things that were taking place.” Mason, who worked as a traffic analyst technician for 14 years, and Ooley, who rose from maintenance worker to assistant public works director during his nearly 25-year career, had used the library parking lot as a meeting spot before. “The library was a location where they had apparently met before,” Currey said. “They met again there yesterday morning and Mr. Ellis was apparently aware of that.”
Search warrants executed at Ellis’s residence yielded multiple firearms and digital evidence, including cell phones currently undergoing forensic analysis. Boats, drones and ground crews have scoured the coastline from Vero Beach to neighboring areas as investigators pursue leads about Ellis’s whereabouts. “Could he have drowned? Potentially, yes. Could he have come back out of the water? Potentially, yes,” Currey acknowledged. “If he’s at large, can he find a way to have some kind of transportation? Absolutely.” Ellis is described as 6 feet 4 inches tall, weighing approximately 200 pounds, with blue eyes and gray hair. The Vero Beach Police Department has warned residents to remain vigilant and report any sightings, emphasizing that “even the smallest detail may assist in this investigation.”
The tragedy has devastated the Indian River County government, where both victims were respected public servants. “Danny and Stacie were not just employees, but colleagues and dedicated public servants who supported this community every day,” County Chairman Deryl Loar and Administrator John Titkanich said in a joint statement. “Their absence is deeply felt across our organization and the community they served.” The county has made counseling services available to its more than 900 employees as they process the loss. However, family members have disputed some details of the investigation. Ooley’s mother, Mary Ooley, denied her son was having an affair, telling NBC News, “He was not having an affair. They were there checking for a job they were going to be doing.” Ellis’s daughter, Kristi Ellis, expressed her devastation in a brief phone call, saying “I just lost my parents. I have no family.”
The investigation remains active as forensic teams process evidence from multiple crime scenes and analyze surveillance footage from businesses and residences near the beach where Ellis disappeared. Police have scheduled another news conference for Friday morning to provide updates on the search efforts and any new developments in the case. Ellis remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous, though investigators believe the killings were specifically targeted and pose no ongoing threat to the public.
