RIVERA BEACH, Fla. — Police in Riviera Beach announced Monday that a man was indicted this month in connection with killing a woman last year.
Officers were dispatched on June 5 to a residence located at 3 Pine Ridge Drive regarding a welfare check.
When they arrived, they found a woman, identified as Deborah Dunton, 69, dead inside her home, which had been ransacked.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Dunton was found lying on her bed with a white Walmart grocery bag over her head, which appeared to have been tightened around her neck.
Her body was naked from the waist down and there were multiple pillows on top of her body, several of which contained blood.
Police said it appeared that Dunton was badly beaten with noticeable bruising on her lips, face and chest. The report said she also had multiple stab wounds to her lower abdomen.
The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Officer listed the victim's cause of death as asphyxia.
Police said after a 10-month investigation they arrested Terrell D. Strain, 21, on April 3 in the case.
The affidavit said the victim and Strain were known acquaintances.
A grand jury on April 20 indicted Strain on one count of first-degree murder while engaged in a robbery and one count of burglary to an occupied dwelling while armed.
Both charges carry the possibility of life in prison.
