Maine man killed in Florida in random attack
Oct. 29—A 49-year-old Maine man was killed in Florida last week by a man wielding a tire iron in what appeared to be a random attack, police told the Tampa Bay Times.
Jeffrey Chapman, 49, was bludgeoned to death in Clearwater Beach while he was bicycling early on Oct. 21, police told the newspaper.
Police said the killing was the result of a chance encounter between Chapman and two men. Jermaine A. Bennett, 26, of Tampa, was arrested and was being held on a charge of first-degree murder. Police are seeking a second man who they say played an active part in the attack.
Clearwater Beach is about 25 miles west of downtown Tampa, on the western coast of Florida.
Chapman had moved to Florida to expand his investment business but regularly returned to Maine to visit his family. He was president, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of Alterity Financial Group, which is headquartered in Bangor but has an office in Tampa, according to the company's website.
Chapman and the two assailants encountered each other when the two men got out of their car and repeatedly hit Chapman in the chest with a tire iron, police said.
"It was a chance encounter that turned deadly while the victim was trying to ride his bike home," Clearwater Beach Police Deputy Chief Michael Walek told the newspaper. "This was a very violent and heinous crime for no reason."
