Deadly Threat | FULL EPISODE | The FBI Files

In the late 1980s, cocaine imports into Florida were among the highest in the country. Regional territories were imposed through intimidation and murder. A trafficker bowed to no one, not even law enforcement, desperate to stop the violence. The authorities turned to the FBI. A suspected drug dealer would stop at nothing. To prevent local and federal authorities from building a case against him when his organization began attacking the government itself, federal agencies were put on high alert. I'm Jim Calstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office. He was a desperate man driven to take desperate measures to bring it back.

It would take the combined efforts of the DEA, ATF and FBI Fort Myers Beach, Florida, on July 18, 1987. It was a Saturday night in a Gulf Coast beach town with a thriving nightlife and a flourishing drug trade, far from the tourists that many local residents passed through. over the weekend at a private party for some that included cocaine at a party several men waited for their friend to return with more drugs they had been gone for about half an hour when they heard what sounded like gunshots around 10 p.m. the owner of the The car whose vehicle was used for drug trafficking saw that it was now parked outside, inside, he found his friend shot to death.

The Lee County Sheriff's Department responded to the scene. The forensic technician found only one identifiable fingerprint on the car. It belonged to the owner of the vehicle. There were seven empty .22 caliber shell casings near the driver's door. Investigators determined that the victim had been shot at point-blank range. The autopsy would reveal eight gunshot wounds to the upper body and traces of cocaine in the bloodstream. The car owner said the dead. The man was his friend Craig Caron, 29, which he was doing reluctantly. He told homicide detectives that the victim had left earlier to buy cocaine. The victim's girlfriend suggested that the police should question her boyfriend's cocaine dealer.

She owed money to the dealer for the drugs. The dealer had a reputation. Due to violence, Lee County Homicide Detective Tom continues, learned that the dealer's name was Jeff Seganik. Jeff was a kid from Fort Myers Beach who had established himself as what I thought he was a mid-level drug dealer on the beach from talking to Craig's associates. that craig owed jeff a lot of money and the reputation was that you better pay your bills with jeff or he would send someone to pick him up the next day an unexpected visitor showed up at the lee county sheriff's department it was the alleged Cocaine dealer Jeff Seganik, 23, asked to see the detective investigating the previous night's murder.

He wanted to give a statement. The reputed dealer with an arrest record heard he might be a suspect and wanted to set the record straight about the night of the murder. Seganik claimed that he and his girlfriend were at a restaurant for a late dinner and said he had spoken to the victim in the parking lot just before the couple sat down to eat. After a few minutes, the man left, the alleged shopkeeper said. He and his girlfriend were at the restaurant from approximately 9:45 to 11 p.m. m. and he had more to offer than his word.

Jeff Seganik handed the detective the restaurant receipt. The waitress who served them confirmed this story. It seemed like she had an airtight alibi, but to the experienced detective she told him so. It seemed like Jeff Seganik was trying too hard to cover his tracks. I had investigated enough homicides to see all the different types of suspects and how they react and the reasons why they commit a murder for this young man to arrive as well organized as he was with an alibi with witnesses with receipts he became my number one suspect thank you Following a tip, the detective questioned a member of a local rock band who was also known for dealing cocaine.

He admitted that the victim sometimes bought drugs directly from him, making Jeffs again supposedly the biggest dealer on the angry beach. Because of the missing candles around 11:15 on the night of the murder, Jeff Seganak arrived at the lounge where he was playing. According to the artist, Jeff Seganick boasted that he had just gotten the victim drunk and that it would teach people. from fort myers beach a lesson the musician's story was one of many over the next few months that confirmed what the police already suspected, but even in the underworld of fort myers beach the rumors and innuendos were not evidence of murder, all I got They were rumors, no one will do it. really give me sworn testimony that says I saw this or I saw that or I know this and I know that was everything he said she said type of intelligence information that may be fine for drug cases, but not with murder investigations, it is needs sworn testimony from people who actually saw something happen then, in the summer of 1988, more than a year after the murder, the detective finally got a break.

A young woman came forward claiming to have witnessed the murder; she had not spoken before because she was addicted to drugs and was protecting her former supplier jeff seganick craig karen he had it now she was clean and wanted to tell the detectives what she had seen the night of July 18, 1987. That night she He was heading to the cocaine party when he witnessed the shooting of the gunman. It was her ex-boyfriend, a man who worked for Jeff Seganick, but the detective could not speak directly to her boyfriend. Just a few months after the murder, her boyfriend had committed suicide.

She told the police that she also had direct knowledge of Jeff Seganick and his organization. woman said Jeff and his right-hand man operated a local pizzeria that Aganic owned. The trafficker stored his drugs and his money in several different locations and moved between them to avoid detection. Few people knew where he really lived. Jeff Seganik had a lot of people. on her payroll, which she knew was only a handful, her ex-boyfriend was one of them hired by Jeff Seganick to do whatever the merchant needed, well done, make sure you come see me in the morning, we'll take care of that tomorrow, She and Jeff had also had an agreement in exchange for storing drugs and weapons in their apartment.

Jeff had paid her rent. She was unable to corroborate his story with other testimony or physical evidence. The detective was unable to charge Jeff Seganik with the murder. I followed those clues and he wasn't there. able to corroborate any information she gave me at the time, so without the trigger and without a gun I thought I had witnessed testimony. I couldn't get in touch with Jeff. I couldn't get in touch with Jeff. I had no physical evidence or testimonial evidence to help me. to file charges against jeff the homicide detective sought help from the lee county narcotics unit the detectives began staking out jeff's aganix pizzeria in hopes of identifying someone they could turn against the dealer the place was a popular spot It would take time for officers to discern drug dealers from legitimate clients to complicate matters.

Jeff Seganick legally changed his name to Jeff Matthews presumably to cut ties with his past crimes. Jeff was the kind of guy who wanted to be a clean businessman. jeff even went so far as to change his name from jeff seganik to jeff matthews to try to help him with his reputation for several weeks investigators noticed people frequenting jeff matthews place without picking up food investigators spotted a man who frequently visited a License plate check revealed his name to be Stephen Franken Detectives speculated that Franken could be his connection to Jeff Matthews. Investigators called DEA Special Agent Dennis Bolam, who was already familiar with Stephen Franken.

Agents believe Franken was a low-level cocaine dealer who got his supply from Jeff Matthews, but they had no evidence to link the two. Agent Bollam hoped to use an informant close to Franken. I received information from a cooperating source that Mr. Franken was distributing cocaine from his home on Hibiscus Street in Fort Myers Beach and that he was distributing it to quite a few people on the fort. Myers Beach area his informant recently arrested for possession was one of Stephen Franken's biggest clients because of his cooperation in controlled drug purchases from Franken. The informant would receive probation if the purchases were successful.

The agents could arrest Franken and then pressure him to testify directly about Jeff. matthews and his organization stephen franken was important to the investigation, he had quite a bit of knowledge about the drug trafficking that was taking place in fort myers beach and with the participation of jeffrey matthews in this drug trafficking, the informant returned the cocaine after several more purchases. DEA agents finally had what they needed to make an arrest on August 25, 1988. Agents obtained a felony arrest warrant for Stephen Franken for the sale and distribution of a controlled substance. Once Franken was in custody, officers searched the interior of his home and found packaged flakes of cocaine. and cash in exchange for a shorter sentence Franken agreed to cooperate with agents admitted that murder suspect Jeff Matthews was his cocaine supplier and agreed to say so in front of the grand jury Franken was released on bail until then while investigators Continuing to search for evidence in their case against Matthews, deputies in nearby Collier County, Florida, responded to a crime scene.

On October 2, 1988, a surveyor had discovered

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y clothed skeletonized human remains in a rural landfill. It appeared the body had been there for the past few weeks, although there was no wallet or other identification, detectives noticed a paper bracelet on the victim's wrist similar to those used by hospitals and nightclubs. Investigators gathered dental records from local families who had recently reported loved ones missing and hoped one of them would match the unknown victims. The records along with the body were sent to the medical examiner for comparison. He first determined that the victim was a white man in his twenties killed execution style with five .38 caliber bullets to the head from the wrist to the body and I removed the paper bracelet, he confirmed.

It was a prohibited entry at a nightclub in Fort Myers Beach. Dental records for a missing 22-year-old man last seen leaving the club confirmed the murder victim was Thomas Sellers. The Collier County Sheriff's Detective visited the seller's father to give him the bad news. questions today: has he been doing any legal activity or hanging out with anyone lately? The father told the detective that his son had a cocaine problem and believed the young man owed $1,000 to his trafficker Jeff Matthews. It was also rumored that his son was the last. He was seen leaving the club with a man who had a reputation as a hitman, but once again investigators were unable to find evidence to corroborate the rumors.

Do you have any photos of his son? Agents and detectives. The only direct witness to Matthew's operation was Stephen Franken, a low-level dealer. arrested months earlier hoped his grand jury testimony would be enough to arrest a cocaine supplier suspected of ordering two executions on January 27, 1990 as sheriffs in Dea and Lee counties in Florida continued to pursue the alleged cocaine dealer and murderer. Jeff Matthews detectives received a call about another possible homicide around midnight. A man was unpacking boxes at his new home when he heard the sound of a car heading toward his house. The vehicle did not stop until it reached his backyard. the driver was dead lee county detective tom cantinos was one of the first to arrive at the house in san carlos park initially they told me it was a car accident there was a body in the car and the closer I look the more I realize Realizing that he didn't die from a car accident, he died from a bunch of bullet holes, the driver's license found on the victim identified the dead man as Stephen Franken, 22, the main witness scheduled to testify against drug trafficker Jeff Matthews at a grand jury hearing just two days away, it appeared that Matthews was aware that without Franken's testimony, investigators would not have enough evidence to bring an indictment against the cocaine trafficker suspected of two murders. and now a third, according to DEA special agent Dennis Bolton.

I believe the timing of the murder was due to the timing of the grand jury's release of the information. We received information about Jeffrey Matthews' involvement in other shootings and murders in Fort Myers Beach and that Stephen Franken had valuable information about the operation.Jeffrey Matthews' drugs, but now the grand jury would never know what Franken knew about Matthews, the federal witness. He was probably dead before he crashed. Detectives decided to search the surrounding area to determine where the shooting had occurred. Something happened before the guy hit the house, otherwise he wouldn't have gone through the house, so I walked down the dirt road a few hundred people. yards and found what looked like an attempted road block, large and small branches covered the road strewn with what must have been a vehicle on the left side of the site, detectives found several 22 caliber bullet casings, the same caliber as the bullets which were later withdrawn.

Footprints from Steven Franken's body, as well as tires from another vehicle, were discovered nearby in loose dirt. Technicians made plastic molds to compare later in case a vehicle or suspect was located. From the location of him on Franken's wounds, officers determined that the shooter had fired. From the driver's side of the car, my immediate thoughts were that someone had built this roadblock to slow a car down enough so that someone could jump out of a brushy area on either side of the road and shoot it. to the person driving that car. The gunman must have known when Franken left work and the route he traveled home the victim probably stopped briefly when he saw debris in the world long enough for the shooter to take precise aim clinging to life for a few more moments he probably sped up for On the road and inside the house no alleged murderer and drug dealer, Jeff Matthews, was believed responsible, investigators were once again left without direct evidence linking Matthews to the crime, the fact that Stephen Franken had Being a federal witness allowed authorities to expand the investigation to include the U.S.

Attorney's Office and the FBI. Together they needed to develop a strategy to catch Jeff Matthews and end the violence. Retired Special Agent Guy Natalie was part of the team, the FBI immediately began working with the Lee County Sheriff's Office. and nothing was done to the anti-drug administration without telling the other agency involved that what was happening, the FBI had a lot of manpower that it could allocate to this matter, they had tremendous capacity for the technical aspect of the investigation. He knew Matthews was still operating in the area, but the dealer was well isolated. The only way to get to him was through his drug operation and his employees, but after informant Franken was murdered, finding someone else to cooperate would not be an easy task, which made it so difficult. was that we didn't have many people come forward and volunteer information about jeffrey matthews, most people knew he was capable of committing murder and were intimidated by him.

Agents turned to a man behind bars who they believed had been a member of Matthew's organization serving a 10-year sentence on concealed weapons charges. The Fort Myers Beach, Florida, man was reputed to be one of Matthew's former hitmen. He agreed to tell what he knew about the dealer's drug operation in exchange for a shorter sentence just before. During his arrest, the alleged hitman admitted that Matthews had ordered him to monitor Stephen Franken to learn the man's schedule. With that information, Matthews could silence Franken before he could testify against the convict. He was denied knowing who pulled the trigger since he was behind bars.

Before the murder occurred, he told investigators about another unsolved homicide he claimed Matthews had committed. Matthews said that one night at the pizzeria a contractor was repairing the kitchen floor tiles after the restaurant closed. , that's, yes, what the hitman sounds like. he had brought a new silencer for Matthew's gun, no one will hear it, no, I won't hear anything, that thing is either way, it's a heavy weapon, yeah, look he claimed the drug dealer killed the contractor just to test the silencer, The agents hope to get Matthews to corroborate the hitman's stories The convict agreed to call Matthews to schedule a recorded meeting He asked Matthews to come to the prison to drop off some new music The agents would be ready to audio and video record the conversation with hoping matthews would incriminate himself We got approvals from the US Attorney's office and the jail to install these recorders and then after we installed everything he never showed up.

Jeffrey Matthews was very elusive, aware of the surveillance, he isolated himself quite well, even his closest friends did not know where he was. residing on Matthew's last suspected victim may have known, but because he was silenced, the alleged killer remained at large and was becoming more desperate. In the early 1990s, the FBI and Florida authorities continued to pursue the alleged drug dealer and murderer, Jeff Matthews, since 1988 had been involved in four executions in the Fort Myers Beach area for Lee County Homicide Detective Tom Cantinos and dozens of officers, the lack of hard evidence and verifiable witness statements kept Jeff Matthews out of reach.

It's been two years and I still couldn't figure it out. jeff matthews there was nothing there I could follow it was dead end after dead end um the whole time I knew that jeff was my number one suspect and he was getting stronger and stronger and bolder and bolder in his activities criminals. on the beach and it was very frustrating. On February 12, 1990, a judge agreed that investigators had enough circumstantial evidence against Matthews to search the merchant's pizzeria, the likely headquarters of his operation, they served the warrant after hours to avoid endangering to restaurant customers. documents seized phone records and bank and credit card statements also confiscated matthew's trans am tire tracks were compared to prints found at one of the crime scenes results were negative above the pizzeria investigators searched an apartment where it was rumored that matthews sometimes stayed with his girlfriend the couple was not there nor did the searchers find cocaine but they did recover silver tip 357 cartridges cash additional telephone records and most importantly 22 caliber bullets the same caliber used in at least three of the four executions to which they were sent The crime laboratory will be compared to the spent .22 caliber bullets recovered from the victims.

Testing of the metallurgical composition of the bullet revealed no matches. It was another dead end in a grueling case, although there was no direct evidence linking the alleged drug dealer to the murders. DEA Special Agent Dennis Bolem and his team believed they had enough to charge Jeff Matthews and several associates as part of an ongoing criminal enterprise. At the time we were worried that by leaving him on the street he might commit additional murders, so we felt like we had enough evidence at that point and that's why we went and got the indictments to go pick him up, but Matthews wasn't about to. nowhere.

His friends and associates claimed that he had left Fort Myers for places unknown. His girlfriend also named in the indictment. She agreed to cooperate with investigators to help locate the fugitive through a tapped phone line. She contacted Matthews on her cell phone. Hello It's Me. The alleged killer refused to say where he was. Don't worry about where I am. She told him that she was worried. about the accusations if I find out who ratted us out Matthew's promise that he would find out who was talking to the authorities and kill them plain and simple hung up seconds later, the next day, a confidential informant gave Lee County homicide detectives a promising tip they learned that matthews had rented a car with a borrowed credit card the night stephen franken was murdered, can you tell us a little about the case?

An evidence technician compared the tire tracks from the rental car to a plaster cast of the tracks collected at the ambush scene that matched this same dimension, it was the first solid evidence linking Matthews to one of the four murders. Unfortunately, it didn't prove that Matthews had driven the rental car to the crime scene or that he had pulled the trigger we were trying to gather as much information on Matthews as we could we didn't even manage to find out where this guy lived we heard he lived in this big house we heard that He lived in that big house, he drove this car, he drove that car, but he was never there, we were never able to locate him where he lived, we only knew that he drove a car and that was a black trans.

It was like you knew he was everywhere but nowhere, so on the night of March 16, 1990, Lee County detectives responded to a call from the home of a Fort Myers Beach fire inspector. A homemade bomb was thrown into his driveway filled with .38-caliber bullets. The explosion sent ammunition and shrapnel through the inspector's car and home. It also damaged a storage shed at a neighboring house. No one was hurt the inspector said he had no idea who might be responsible the detectives asked him for a list of businesses that had not passed any recent fire inspections any problems with anyone one name stood out jeff matthews i responded to that scene i found out about that this fire inspector did a fire inspection of the Matthews restaurant and I didn't give him a very good review as to the conditions of the restaurant fire once I heard that I said, "This is Jeff texting this guy, but yeah "It was Matthews, he had left no trace." the police had to continue it was the patchy testimony of a neighbor the neighbor had heard tires screeching just before the explosion when he looked outside he saw a white hatchback speeding away it had been too dark to see the license plate if Matthews had been involved the detective continued I reflected on his change of tactics.

I remember thinking it was a significant change in Jeff's operation before he targeted other drug dealers. He is now targeting government officials, as he was a Fort Myers Beach fire inspector. That's kind of different from what Jeff was doing. The detective returned home. Long after midnight he tried to relax in hopes of getting some sleep, around 2am the sound of an explosion sent him running towards the window which sounded like a transformer exploding a car sending fireworks backfiring. I mean, there are several things going on in my neighborhood. that sound could happen the phone rings two or three minutes later it's one of my associates who is on the DEA task force says Tom the DEA building was just blown up the DEA office in Fort Myers was a few minutes away From the detective's house I am the first one on the scene and I saw the entire DEA building engulfed in flames that are hundreds of feet high.

I mean, it was just an incredible sight for me. Investigators immediately suspected fugitive Jeff Matthews. It was the first bombing of a DEA office in US history. 30 firefighters battled the blaze for nearly an hour, dozens of deputies, U.S. marshals and agents from six neighboring counties were also called in. FBI Special Agent Guy Natalie was among them when I arrived the morning of the bombing, March 17. , DEA agents informed me that the The suspect in this matter was most likely an individual who was charged two days earlier with Jeffrey Matthews. Yes this was the work of Jeff Matthews.

The cocaine dealer's violence had escalated to horrific proportions when law enforcement became the target. No one is safe and Matthews was still in the was executed On March 17, 1990, two days after a federal grand jury indicted alleged drug dealer and murderer Jeff Matthews, the DEA's office in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, was bombed with firebombs, agents suspected Matthews was responsible, but he was still at large, the FBI and Lee County Detective Tom continue to believe. fugitive was also the prime suspect in another bomb attack that occurred just hours earlier, we realized that in all likelihood the homemade bomb at the fire inspector's house was a diversionary tactic to withdraw police resources from the area of patrolling the DEA building for Matthews to bomb the DEA office at dawn all that remained of the building was a burned shell investigators now began the task of assessing what was left, how it happened and where the evidence was buried in hopes To identify the perpetrator, FBI Special Agent Natalie called in specialists from headquarters.

We brought in bomb technicians from our laboratory in Washington, DC, as well as some FBI agents from thetampa division to conduct the investigation the investigation consisted of going through all the debris left at the site basically shoveling it and examining it until we discovered what incendiary tip was used, they determined that the fire was caused by a pipe bomb taped to two 5-gallon gas cans and thrown through a window that landed in DEA Agent Dennis Bowen's office, he believed. The goal was no coincidence. My feeling is that Jeffrey Matthews was trying to destroy the evidence in the case and I had the case

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in a filing cabinet right near the window and, surprisingly, the fire and the explosion.

He passed by and everything was intact, as far as recordings, notes and so on, due to the early hour, no one was hurt, but the damage was estimated at four million dollars through scattered witness accounts, investigators pieced together a possible scene for In the attack no one knew how many people were involved, but the neighbors only heard a car and a door open and then close. Investigators assumed that those responsible stopped near the building to quickly hit and flee. The attack had a profound effect on the area. Law enforcement officers struggled to deal with the physical reality of the destruction in their emotional reactions.

I was surprised and then angry and then I was more determined to catch them at that moment than anything else. It has changed my life because I had to have a 24-hour guard. also the other agents and the prosecutor in the case. um I had a wife and two young children that I had to worry about and they had to be protected and I knew that he was still running around and there's a possibility. could do this again, FBI lab examiners inspected the remains of the bomb nails used as shrapnel, packaged in a five-inch diameter metal tube with a single thread and surrounded with gunpowder tape, They clamped the tube between two five-gallon tanks of gasoline that helped spread the fire when the bomb exploded. 100 DEA agents joined the team and the four-person FBI office grew to more than 50.

Investigators began tracking where the bomb materials may have been purchased. Teams of agents searched every hardware store. and a gas station for miles around the pipe used in the pump had a single thread. Officers found the store employee who had sold this unusual item just days earlier. The employee at the explosion identified Matthews as the customer who had purchased it. Agents asked dozens of gas station employees if they remembered anyone who had bought gas in two five-gallon tanks over the past week. One remembered that a man fitting Matthew's description had done so so recently that evidence was mounting against the attacker but officers still had no idea where he was.

They interviewed her friends and associates to determine who she had been incontinent with and how do you know that Jeffrey One told her that he had written to her begging her not to believe what she had read about him in the newspapers, but she had believed the articles and agreed to to monitor your phone. so that the agents could trace a call from Matthew, that would be great, you would be willing to do it, he was elusive, we never knew where he would be at any given time, he was always on the move, so we used the trap and tracking that we knew. that he used a cell phone and we are trying to determine exactly where he was with a signed affidavit that agents went to the company that managed Matthew's wireless account, if there was access to a cell tower from his phone, authorities would be alerted and discovered he was still in Florida.

We even had aerial surveillance set up in the Orlando area where we discovered where his cell phone was coming from. to see if when he made a call we could get people there quickly to try to stop him, but agents couldn't trace Matthew's calls within a less than two mile radius, then investigators got the lead they were hoping for and rushed to Fort Myers . storage facility where the manager had recognized Matthews from the media the fugitive was unloading a truck there agents hoped they could get there before the alleged killer and attacker escaped again in the spring of 1990 FBI agents rushed to Arrest 26-year-old fugitive Jeff Matthews suspected in four murders and the Fort Myers, Florida, building bombing DEA A team of agents responded to a call from a storage facility manager who had seen the wanted man on your property.

Officers approached the suspect ready to use

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force and took his wallet to search his I'm fine after two years of manhunt. Detective Tom of Lee County, Florida, continues, was disappointed but not discouraged. He just knew that at some point we were going to catch him. He was too active. He was too violent. What I was worried about was the cost before I caught it. We just didn't know how long it would take and how many dead people it would take to get there, that was my concern, yes sir, okay, investigators received a tip from a real estate agent who claimed to have rented at a Jeff Matthews house before it was a known fugitive, they found common items, such as duct tape and hardware bags, that could be related to the bombing, then they stumbled upon something that seemed clearly connected to Matthew's crimes, as DEA Special Agent Dennis Bollum recalls. . a note and the note was addressed to the Lee County Sheriff's Department.

I don't know the exact verbiage that was used in it, but it's something to the effect that, catch me if you can, the investigators sharpened their determination to find him before anyone else. killed jeffrey on april 9, 1990 matthews called his friends on a tapped phone the agents were prepared to attack if the woman could keep him on the line this time she was calling from a pay phone according to fbi special agent natalie we were able to determine Which was in the Orlando area, agents were sent to different quadrants where they could be within 10 or 15 minutes of different pay phones that we thought maybe Matthews was using.

The field agents waited for the word while precious seconds the woman asked where she was, but Matthews was anxious. to hang up despite his best efforts, they got tracking agents to set out to arrest him before he disappeared again. Our people were able to locate the location where the phone call was coming from. The agents were only about 5 or 10 away. They arrived within 15 minutes. at the scene he was still talking when officers arrived after nearly three years of manhunt investigators arrested jeff matthews without incident to avoid the death penalty jeff matthews pleaded guilty to supervising a continuing criminal enterprise committing murder in furtherance of that enterprise trafficking cocaine and bombing a federal building on July 31, 1990, Matthews asked to speak to DEA and FBI agents and said they had to act immediately or they would surely kill more innocent people.

The convicted killer had a storage unit in Gainesville, Florida loaded with explosives in a booby-trapped van. The agents immediately notified the bomb squad. I was worried that he might be trying to set us up, maybe have his last hurray before going to jail, and that we might be sending some officers into a really dangerous situation, like Matthews had described. The agents found a red van parked inside a storage unit prepared to explode. An anti-explosive squad spread the devices and secured the area with the explosive trap that was left harmless. Investigators quickly removed the dozen homemade bombs they found in the van.

They also recovered an ar-15 at mach 10 at mac. 11 and a .22 caliber pistol with a silencer there was a rubber mask Halloween mask there were police jackets there were additional bombs hand bomb making equipment on how to make bombs how to make booby traps fuses and bomb making equipment, including pieces of pipe and stopwatches and so on , Matthews also told investigators where they could find the body of the contractor murdered at his pizzeria more than two years earlier, although Matthews claimed his hitman had committed the murder, keeping it in a freezer, Matthew said he and the The hitman had taken the body in a freezer to the house Jeff was renting and buried the victim nearby.

It was the same house where investigators had found Matthew's mocking note. They located both the freezer and the body right where the killer said they would be for this. Crime Matthews pleaded guilty as an accessory to drug dealers they just don't start a business killing people and most of them don't kill people, but Jeff was a very violent and organized person and that made him dangerous and that made it even more difficult. to catch on october 1, 1990, 26 year old jeff matthews was sentenced to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole, he will never again be free to terrorize the people of fort myers beach, florida.