VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Sister of victim Marshall VanOven, Lisa Callahan, thanked an anonymous tipster who gave Volusia County deputies information that led to the arrest of 50-year-old Scott Mitchell.
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“I just want to say thank you to that person. Words can not express enough being however many miles away in New York that somebody else cared enough,” said Callahan.
A week after a brutal double homicide in Binghamton, New York, fugitive Scott Mitchell was arrested at a McDonald’s in Volusia County, thanks to a crucial tip from an AT&T employee who saw Mitchell panhandling.
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A two-minute deputy body-worn camera footage showed Mitchell sitting in a wooded area behind the restaurant on International Speedway Boulevard and Tomoka Farms Road in Daytona Beach.
“If you’re going to people, you don’t want to come to this state, and you don’t want to come to this county because we’re going to send your a** right back to where it belongs,” said Volusia County Sheriff, Mike Chitwood.
The manhunt came to an end when Mitchell was caught early Wednesday, a week after police said he allegedly killed two people, Daniel McCloe, 58, and Marshall VanOven, 55, who both were found inside a Binghamton home dead.
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During the week-long search for Mitchell, investigators said he drove two different cars, both of which he got rid of to evade police longer. Law enforcement said he ditched one in South Carolina and the other in Deland.
Callahan expressed relief after she found out Mitchell was in police custody. She told WFTV Tonight that her family can rest a little easier knowing he is behind bars.
“We can sleep, and Marshall’s service is tomorrow. And I feel like this is Marshall’s [kind of] way of saying you know what? We got this He’s going to be brought to justice,” said Callahan.
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Callahan thanked the communities in Florida and South Carolina for the efforts of trying to catch Mitchell over the past week and credited the public’s attentiveness.
Mitchell is now waiting to be extradited to New York State.
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