Cops: Brother killed during dispute, buried in family's yard
21-year-old charged with killing younger brother
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_20100622091104_640_480.JPG "Spring Hill Eckard house_20100622091104_JPG")
_20100622091004_640_480.JPG "Spring Hill Eckard house_20100622091004_JPG")
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_20100622082209_640_480.JPG "Spring Hill brother murder scene_20100622082209_JPG")
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Posted: 06/21/2010
SPRING HILL, Fla. - Hernando detectives say a 21-year-old man killed his brother and then buried him in the yard of his parent’s Spring Hill home.
Stanley Eckard is accused of killing 19-year-old Sean Eckard.
As the Hernando County Sheriff’s office continued to comb the crime scene Tuesday morning for clues that might explain what may have led to the murder, some neighbors said the Eckard home was the “problem house” on the block.
Investigators told ABC Action News that Sean Eckard went missing Friday. Then about 3 a.m. Saturday, Stanley was spotted by his mother burying something at the side of the house.
When she asked him what he was doing, he told her he was burying some things that belonged to his girlfriend, according to deputies. Later, Stanley's sister pressured their father to check the area. When he started digging, he came upon his younger son's remains.
When questioned by detectives, Stanley Eckard admitted to strangling his brother and then checked his heart beat to see if he was dead, according to the arrest affidavit.
He told detectives he planned to dig up his brother's body and move it when his parents were out of town in a couple of weeks.
The sheriff’s office charged Stanley with the second degree (not premeditated) murder of his brother and is being held without bond.
Sean's body is set to be removed later today by Crime Scene techs, once they finish the odious investigation in and around the shallow grave, just steps from the pool where the boys often swam, played, and sometimes fought.
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