FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – Two brothers who were stopped driving the stolen vehicle of a 21-year-old Lakeland man who was missing and later found dead have been arrested on felony charges in connection with his death.
Danne Frazier was found dead last week in an orange grove off Helicopter Road in Lake Wales, according to the sheriff’s office. An autopsy determined his cause of death as a homicide. Frazier had a skull fracture, and a broken piece of a knife blade in his neck, according to the sheriff’s office.
Recommended Videos
Frazier’s family reported him missing Nov. 4 to the Lakeland Police Department. Officers said he left the Publix warehouse in Lakeland where he worked around 2 a.m. on Nov. 4 and was last seen about 20 minutes later at a WaWa gas station on Edgewood Drive. Authorities said Frazier never made it to his Winter Haven home.
On Nov. 6 in Flagler County, deputies said they conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle associated with Frazier in the area of County Road 325 and U.S. 1, but the driver, 19-year-old Jo “JoJo” Lobato, ran away from the scene and his brother, who was in the passenger’s seat, 18-year-old Angel Lobato, refused to speak to law enforcement. Deputies later determined the vehicle was Frazier’s stolen car.
After Frazier was found dead, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office obtained warrants for the Lobato brothers on charges of grand theft of a motor vehicle, vehicle burglary, giving false information during a capital felony, tampering with evidence and accessory after the fact of a capital investigation.
On Saturday, both brothers were taken into custody in Lake Wales by Polk County deputies. After their arrests, detectives said both brothers “confessed to a coordinated and planned attack which included robbing and then killing Frazier.”
The following are excerpts from their affidavits. They are very graphic and disturbing, and self-explanatory:
Jo Lobato said he began talking to Frazier on social media about one month before he was killed. According to the arrest reports, the brothers are homeless and determined Frazier would be an “easy target” to rob and killed to take his vehicle and money.
Jo Lobato said he made plans with the victim to meet up after he got off work in the Central Park area located in Winter Haven. Once Frazier said he was on the way, detectives say Angel armed himself with a metal bat, hid behind a tree and waited for Jo Lobato and the victim to arrive in the victim’s vehicle.
According to the arrest affidavit, Jo and Angel Lobato attacked the victim, choking him and hitting him with a bat. They then loaded his body into the car and dumped his body in Lake Wales, where he was found last week. The suspects told detectives they cut Frazier with a knife before leaving his body in an orange grove.
Both suspects were booked into the Polk County Jail on first-degree murder and ordered held without bail. They are also charged with armed robbery, conspiracy to commit first degree murder, accessory after the fact of a capital felony, giving false information during a capital investigation, grand theft of a motor vehicle, tampering with evidence and burglary of a vehicle.