Stolen rental car returned to FEMA worker, with improvements

A rental car was returned to the FEMA contract worker it was stolen from, but it wasn't quite the same, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

The windows had been tinted.

A contract worker for the Federal Emergency Management Agency left the keys in the ignition and the engine running Monday, said Daytona Beach police Investigator Jimmie Flynt.

Walter Charles Kerr Jr., 64, of Fort Worth, Texas, saie he was six steps away talking to a resident about flooding in Volusia County when a man jumped in the car and drove away.

Two two laptop computers were in the car, one with personal information of flooding victims. That computer was recovered this morning, but Kerr's personal computer is still missing, Flynt said.

The 2009 Toyota Camry was found about 9:30 a.m. at an apartment complex on S. Palmetto Avenue.

Living a life of lattes

A Daytona Beach police officer has been fired for threatening employees at a coffee shop with slow emergency response if he didn't get free beverages, according to Local6.com. Lt. Major Garvin, a 15-year veteran, was fired earlier this month after flunking a polygraph test that he insisted on taking. The Police Department said that starting in June 2007 Garvin, while on duty, visited the Starbucks up to six times a night and demanded free beverages. The investigation also showed that when denied a freebie, he threatened employees with slower emergency response times. Even worse, NBC6.net reports, Garvin would cut in front of the paying customers.

5 college students and a baby gator

Authorities say five college students broke into a miniature golf course in the wee hours one night planning to steal a baby alligator, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The desperados were armed with duct tape and palm fronds. (Palm fronds?) The jig was up when the cops spotted them and tossed them in jail. They could have lost a finger if one of the little critters (they have about 25 of them) had gotten them in a death roll, the general manager said. The kids bailed out of jail. Cost 'em $1,500. Would have been cheaper to go play miniature golf.

Booze, spring break and dynamite: What could go wrong?

Three college students on spring break in Daytona Beach were arrested this morning after allegedly setting off a partial stick of dynamite on a hotel sun deck, WFTS-TV reports. Alcohol may have played a role. "They're really nice guys, they were just really drunk yesterday," said spring breaker Dan McDonough. "We saw 'em before dark and they were so wasted that I don't think they remember doing that." Police found they found glass debris scattered across a 100-foot area.

Daytona races inspire bad behavior on roads

When the car jockeying ends at Daytona International Speedway, it moves on to the roadways, the Orlando Sentinel reports. "Once it ends, there is this mass exodus," said Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman Trooper Kim Miller. "A lot of people will drive on the shoulder and do some lane surfing . . . They will actually go [against traffic] in the wrong lane to get to the traffic light." Speedway spokesman David Talley acknowledged that some drivers may be a little energized from watching the races.  "They probably think they can maneuver around like Kevin Harvick or Jimmie Johnson,'' Talley said.

Tourist killed as he tests Daytona stock car

An Apopka man whose 60th birthday present was to experience a high-speed stock car died Sunday after crashing into a retaining wall at the Daytona Beach Speeway, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Robert Boswell of Apopka was on the fourth of eight laps in the Richard Petty Driving Experience when he began driving erratically and struck a wall, said Chris McKee, spokesman for the driving experience.  Boswell and his son, Greg, were part of a 20-driver class. Greg Boswell was supposed to drive next. The cause of death is still being investigated. The driving experience puts people behind the wheel or in the passenger seat of a stock car going 150 mph or more. It costs from $400 to $2,000. It's the first death for the driving experience at the Daytona Beach track, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.

Police: Daytona Beach serial killer threatens women

Daytona Beach police had some less than reassuring words about a serial killer there: No woman is safe. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that was the message cops and a profiler for the state Department of Law Enforcement stressed Wednesday. Police say the person who killed a Holly Hill mother Jan. 2 also shot three women to death in 2005 and 2006. Detectives have monitored news blogs about the killer and recently subpoenaed the News-Journal for information about someone who posted several comments. "He is not a monster in appearance,'' declared FDLE profiler Tom Davis. "He may very well be working amongst us.'' The victims have been crack addicts or prostitutes, but Davis said all women are potential victims.

Bracelet could be key to solving murder mystery

An expensive gold bracelet could hold the key to solving the mystery of who killed Michael Scot Louis, whose body parts were found in four black plastic garbage bags in the river at Tomoka State Park, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports. Louis' girlfriend gave him the bracelet and he never took it off. But it wasn't among the remains that were discovered last month, authorities say. "It was the only thing of value the kid owned -- he was proud of it," said Louis' stepfather, Joe Provenzano. Louis' 1980s-era Pontiac Firebird was found at his apartment complex with the keys in the ignition and the transmission set in reverse.

92-year-old jumps to his death

Floyd Snyder, 92, went to visit his beloved wife of more than 60 years, Leona, at her nursing home Sunday. She didn't recognize him. So Wednesday morning, just before 8 a.m., Snyder climbed atop the balcony railing of his ninth-floor condo and jumped to his death, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports. It's unusual for a man his age to commit suicide, especially like that, said Gail Gregory, president and CEO of the Mental Health Association of Volusia and Flagler. But the longer people live, the more such cases we'll see, he said. "We're going to see older people doing things they couldn't do before," she said.

She gave up her baby 57 years ago -- now he's back

On Christmas Day 57 years ago, a poor unwed mother named Peggy gave up her newborn baby boy for adoption. Every year on Christmas she'd wondered about him. On Tuesday she didn't have to wonder anymore. Peggy, now 80, and the baby she gave up, now grown up with kids of his own, met for the first time, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports. Bill, who was adopted in Tampa, is a minister, has a wife and three children, and lives near Louisville, Ky. Peggy grew up in West Palm Beach. She married a man named Chandler in 1953. They lived in Daytona Beach for 54 years. Says Peggy: "Him finding me and me finding him, this is the best Christmas I've ever had."