3 ARRESTED IN AUGUST KILLING

Authorities Say The Men - One Is From Palm Harbor - Came To Steal Drugs
And Wound Up Shooting A Housesitter After A Confrontation

HOLIDAY -- Housesitting may have cost Robert Dean his life.

Dean was staying at his landlord's Flora Avenue home on Aug. 27, the
same night that three men showed up hoping to find a stash of drugs, a
Pasco County detective said.

Dean scuffled with the men in the driveway, authorities said, and was
killed by a single gunshot to the head.

Three months after Dean's killing, Pasco County sheriff's detectives
say they have solved the case.

On Thursday, detectives announced the arrest of the three men.

Arrested were John Edward Oyer, 20, of 2041 Pleasure Drive, Holiday;
his brother, Glen William Oyer, 21, of 2012 32nd Ave. N., St.
Petersburg; and Ronald Willis Spaulding, 22, of 37210 U.S. 19, Palm
Harbor. All three have been charged with first-degree murder.

Dean, 35, was a local handyman and a father of five girls. He lived at
4245 Flora Ave. in a small house in back of his landlord's home.

"He was a good man," said his mother-in-law, 65-year-old Katena Hiou,
who is raising Dean's daughters. "Why? Why did they do it? He left
five little girls."

Although his daughters lived with their grandmother before the
tragedy, Dean worked hard to support them. He loved taking them to the
beach and bike riding. Hiou said he would frequently stop by the house
at night to kiss his daughters good night.

The landlord, Terry Nelson, asked Dean to house-sit on Aug. 27 so he
could travel to a car race in another state.

At 2:35 a.m., the Oyer brothers and Spaulding drove to Nelson's Flora
Avenue home to "rob him of drugs that are known to be in his home,"
said Pasco Detective William Moe.

They went to the door and an unknown man -- detectives won't say who
- -- opened the door and started to argue with the trio.

The men walked away and met with Dean, who had heard a commotion and
walked outside. In the driveway, Dean and one of the men "started to
get physical," said detectives, and one of the men struck Dean on the
head.

Glen Oyer told detectives that he heard a shot, then ran to the car.

Pasco County sheriff's officials won't say who pulled the trigger, but
a report said Glen Oyer was charged with first-degree murder because
he was involved in the robbery that led to Dean's death.

Hiou said Dean was like a son to her, and both she and his five girls
have had a difficult time coping with his death.

"I cried for three months," she said.

Detectives found the murder weapon, a .38-caliber revolver, in a body
of water near Moog Road on Thursday.

Authorities wouldn't say what evidence -- or who -- led them to the
three men. John Oyer and Spaulding were held in the Pinellas County
Jail on unrelated charges when they were charged with murder by Pasco
authorities. In October, the two men threw beer bottles at a Pinellas
County deputy in Palm Harbor; the deputy fired a shot at the pair's
moving car in response, authorities said. No one was hit by the
bullet, officials said.

All three men charged Thursday have criminal histories, according to
Florida Department of Law Enforcement records:

John Oyer is facing charges of criminal mischief, aggravated assault
on a law enforcement officer, throwing a deadly missile and petty
theft stemming from the October incident in Palm Harbor. He also was
charged with a violation of probation-burglary out of Collier County.

Glen Oyer has previous arrests for failure to appear, driving while
intoxicated, driving with a suspended license and disorderly
intoxication convictions.

Ronald Spaulding is awaiting charges on fleeing and eluding police,
driving without a valid license, leaving the scene of an accident with
property damage and violating his probation in Collier County on a
dealing in stolen property charge. He was previously arrested on
charges of dealing in stolen property, larceny, theft and loitering.

Spaulding and John Oyer were held without bail at the Pinellas County
Jail in Clearwater. Glen Oyer was held without bail at the Pasco
County Jail in Land O'Lakes.