Murat Oziros, a 54-year-old male of Turkish descent, tragically lost his life on March 4, 2014, in Riviera Beach, Florida. Oziros was the owner of Florida Sunshine Tires and Auto Center, a tire shop located on Avenue E. On the evening of his death, Oziros and his 18-year-old employee, Deondre McCoy, were closing the shop when they were approached by an armed assailant. The attacker opened fire, fatally wounding both men.
Despite being rushed to the hospital, neither survived the attack.
The case remained unsolved for nearly a decade, causing significant distress to the families of the victims. Cynthia Oziros, Murat's widow, expressed her fears that the inability to identify a suspect early on would result in a prolonged investigation without resolution. However, in 2024, the Riviera Beach police's cold case unit, established in November 2022, made significant progress. Through DNA and weapons testing, investigators linked two men, Jeffrey Brown, 35, and Lavon Heath, 33, to the murders. Both men were already in custody on unrelated charges when they were indicted by a grand jury on March 28, 2024, for first-degree murder, armed robbery, and being felons in possession of firearms.
The investigation revealed that the assailants had not taken any money during the robbery but had stolen a gold necklace belonging to Oziros. The breakthrough in the case came when DNA from guns seized in an unrelated West Palm Beach case matched the DNA of Brown and Heath. This evidence, combined with shell casings found at the scene, led to their arrest and indictment. The arrests brought a sense of relief and closure to the families of the victims, who had endured years of uncertainty and grief.
The Riviera Beach police chief, Michael Coleman, highlighted the importance of the cold case unit in resolving such long-standing cases and bringing justice to the victims' families. Cynthia Oziros, standing alongside her sons, expressed her gratitude to the investigators for their relentless efforts in solving the case. The resolution of this case underscores the critical role of forensic science and dedicated investigative work in solving cold cases and delivering justice.
