News and Investigations

During the early morning hours of Tuesday, October 15, 2019, PCSO SWAT members arrested 35-year-old Stanley Eric Mossburg, AKA "Woo Woo," originally of Spartanburg, SC, and recently of Greeneville, TN, after he barricaded himself inside a Winter Haven home during a manhunt which ensued after he killed two Polk County residents. 

The manhunt began around 6:00 p.m. on Monday, October 14, 2019, when the Polk County Sheriff's Office Emergency Communications Center (ECC) received a 911 call from a Winter Haven man in the area between 15th and 17th Streets NE (cross street: Dundee Road) who reported that an unknown suspect killed his two roommates and held him captive for approximately 14 hours. The victim told deputies that the suspect (later positively identified as Mossburg) was in the victim's home that he shares with a man and a woman when the victim got home from work around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 13, 2019. The victim's female roommate was tied up and still alive at the time, and she told the victim to cooperate with the suspect so he would not get hurt. The victim's male roommate had already been murdered by Mossburg, and Mossburg told the victim that the body was in the master bedroom.

Mossburg tied up the third victim in the office and stayed in the home all night, filling up bags and suitcases of all three victims' items. During the night, Mossburg killed the female victim and told the remaining victim about it.

Between 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m. on Monday, Mossburg told the remaining victim that he would be back to "deal with the bodies," then fled the scene in the female victim's car, a 2013 black Hyundai Tucson. He warned the remaining victim not to call the cops or he would kill him. Around 6:00 p.m. the victim ran to a neighbor's house and called 911.

Responding deputies immediately located both murder victims, then set up a perimeter.  Meanwhile, PCSO notified the media and the public to be on the lookout for Mossburg and the stolen SUV.

Around 9:10 p.m. on Monday evening, a PCSO Captain searching the area located the stolen SUV, which was still warm and had just been left there. Deputies also located a stolen truck that Mossburg was known to have driven, parked at a house nearby. As deputies searched the home on Avenue C NE where they believed Mossburg was hiding, they heard two gunshots coming from the garage area. They immediately retreated, and summoned the PCSO SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team.

From approximately 10:30 p.m. on Monday until 5:10 a.m. on Tuesday, the SWAT team members summoned Mossburg via a PA system, and inserted chemical agent into the house in an effort to get him to surrender. Not only did he refuse to surrender, he continued to shoot at the deputies. At 5:10 a.m., the SWAT mobile armored vehicle made entry into the garage, and deputies located Mossburg hiding under a pool table. A PCSO K-9 apprehended Mossburg as he continued to refuse to surrender and fought with the dog.

Mossburg was taken to a local hospital to be treated for his injuries, and will be booked into the Polk County Jail this afternoon (Tuesday, October 15, 2019).

He is being charged by PCSO with:

• 2 counts first degree murder (FC)
• 3 counts attempted murder of a law enforcement officer (FL)
• 2 counts armed burglary with assault (FL)
• 2 counts armed false imprisonment (F3)
• 1 count resisting arrest with violence (F3)
• 1 count grand theft of a motor vehicle (F3)
• 1 count grand theft of a dwelling (F3)
• 1 count burglary (F3)
• 1 count destruction of evidence (F3)
• 1 count resisting arrest without violence (M1)

He will have a first appearance hearing at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 16, 2019. 

The full news conference about this event can be found on our Facebook page or by clicking here.

Mossburg is a fugitive from Greeneville, TN, with a warrant for first degree murder in that jurisdiction. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations is the lead on that investigation. 

"Stanley Mossburg told our victim he wanted to be a serial killer. He said he likes killing people. We know he’s killed at least 3 people. He tried to kill our deputies last night. This guy needs the death penalty if there’s ever anyone who needed the death penalty." - Grady Judd, Sheriff