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Man gets life in prison for beating grandmother, aunt to death with hammer

Marty Connell convicted of first-degree murder

Marty Connell (Florida Department of Corrections)

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A man who beat his grandmother and aunt to death with a hammer in 2017 has been sentenced to life in prison for both murders, court records show.

Marty Connell, 45, killed his grandmother, Maxine Mills, 84, and his aunt, Holly Crossman, 61, on April 7, 2017 at a home on Eucalyptus Place in Cocoa.

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After the fatal hammer attack, he called 911 to confess.

“I have a problem, I killed a couple of people. They’re family. They are my grandmother and my aunt,” Connell said in the call.

Connell, who was homeless, said he went to the home to take a shower, the same as he did every week. He said at the time that he didn’t know why he killed them.

Connell was facing the death penalty but was ultimately sentenced to life in prison on two counts of first-degree murder.