Suspicious vehicle taken to sheriff's office, Ethan Fussell still missing

Lina PortmanJune 7, 2024

36 1 minute read

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – The Polk County Sheriff's Office has filed first-degree murder charges against two suspects in the killing of 21-year-old Ethan Fussell, who went missing last month. At a news conference earlier this week, Sheriff Grady Judd asked for help finding a car that belonged to one of the suspects in the case.

Sheriff Grady Judd provided an update Thursday afternoon during a brief Facebook live stream. The car belongs to Talon Page, 25, who faces first-degree murder for Fussell's death.

On Thursday, Judd posted a video saying the missing car, a silver 2000 Lexus 400 with license plate CC02IL, was now in their possession. Someone drove the car to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.

“A guy drove it to one of our district stations and said, 'Hey, I understand you're looking for this car.' So, now we have it,” Judd explained. They are now continuing the search for Fussell, who the sheriff says is dead.

Detectives are convinced that Talon Page and Adonai Rivera, the main suspects in the case, murdered Fussell at Page's home. Crystal Droweingo and Autumn Thomas were also arrested and charged with lying to law enforcement and helping to cover up the crime.

During the investigation, detectives discovered a video of Talon severely beating Ethan. The recording took place inside Talon's Driggers Road home and the rug, which was later removed and thrown away by the two suspects, is clearly visible with Ethan's blood on it. Evidence recovered by detectives also confirms that Crystal was not sleeping during the time period she claimed to be. A text message from Ethan's phone sent to someone was time-stamped 18 minutes after the video was taken.

“But what we really need is Ethan Fussell. We need him returned to his family. Yes, we have every reason to believe that he is deceased. Please don’t take him to the district police station – call us and we will come and get him,” Judd said.

There is a $5,000 reward for information offered.