November 6, 2005
Gary Davidson
Public Information Officer

MURDER VICTIM’S HUSBAND LOCATED IN LEVY COUNTY, CONFESSES TO KILLING 

The search for an Orange City man who disappeared after his wife’s body was discovered in the couple’s shed ended Sunday morning in Levy County on Florida’s Gulf Coast west of Ocala. That’s where 47-year-old Larry Roberson was taken into custody by the Levy County Sheriff’s Office after a citizen called to say they had spotted a blue Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck in the woods, concealed by a canopy of trees. The truck, registered to Roberson’s wife, 53-year-old Debra Roberson, disappeared around the same time her body was found. Interviewed later Sunday by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office’s lead agent in the murder, investigator Larry Horzepa, Roberson confessed to killing his wife. 

Debra Roberson’s body was discovered on Oct. 26 inside a shed behind a home on Cypress Avenue that the couple shared. Her body was found after a relative became concerned that he hadn’t been able to contact the victim. The relative drove from Georgia to check on the couple and called the Sheriff’s Office on the evening of Oct. 25. The victim’s body was found the next morning. Volusia County Sheriff’s investigators had been looking for the victim’s husband ever since to question him about his wife’s murder. That search ended Sunday morning when a resident called the Levy County Sheriff’s Office shortly after 7 a.m. to report seeing the pickup truck in the woods just east of C.R. 3477, near the Levyville Hunting Club. Levy County deputies took Roberson into custody at about 8:52 a.m. 

While the Volusia County Medical Examiner’s Office is awaiting the results of toxicology tests before officially ruling on the cause of death, Roberson provided details during his interview that investigators say would only be known by the killer. Roberson currently is being held without bond in the Levy County Jail on a Volusia County warrant charging him with violating the terms of his probation resulting from a 2002 conviction for aggravated battery. Roberson is expected to be returned to Volusia County this week, and Sheriff’s investigators will be meeting with the State Attorney’s Office to review the case before officially charging Roberson with the murder.

---

Additional press releases:

Sheriff's Office Investigating Suspicious Death Near Orange City
Body In Shed Confirmed To Be Adult Woman 
Body In Shed Ruled A Homicide 
Larry Roberson Charged With 1st-Degree Murder