In the late hours of a Thursday night in Bartow, Florida, a sequence of events unfolded that concluded in the violent death of 56-year-old Jeffrey Lee Blevins. On March 26, 2026, while outside his apartment at the Fountain Place Apartments on North Wilson Avenue, Blevins was engaged in a telephone conversation with his mother. The call was abruptly interrupted when she heard him fall to the ground and he ceased to respond.
Concerned, Blevins's mother contacted her daughter, who resided
with him. Upon stepping outside to check on her brother, she made a grim discovery: Blevins was lying in a pool of blood. The Bartow Police Department was immediately notified and arrived at the scene within two minutes to render aid. Emergency life-saving measures were performed before he was transported to Bartow Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead shortly before midnight. The cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head.
The investigation into what was described as a "violent death" was a collaborative effort between the Bartow Police Department and the Polk County Sheriff's Office. Their inquiries at the apartment complex led them to another resident, David Richard Morris, age 48, who lived in the apartment above Blevins. Witnesses reported that Morris had been aggressive towards other tenants and had a prior confrontation with Blevins. One individual told investigators that Morris would brag about his gun while under the influence of methamphetamine.
A search warrant was executed for Morris's apartment, which he shared with his mother. During the search, investigators found a 9mm handgun in a backpack in a closet, which appeared to have blood on it. Ballistic testing confirmed that the casing found at the scene matched Morris's firearm. Morris was arrested on Saturday, March 28, 2026, and faced charges of second-degree murder without premeditation and discharging a firearm in a residential area. During his first court appearance, he was denied bond on the murder charge. Authorities described Morris as a "conspiracy theorist."
