Arrest made in double murder in Masaryktown

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office has arrested David Alexander Bostick (left) for the 2006 murders of Masaryktown residents Patrick and Evelyn DePalma. Bostick, who was a juvenile at the time of the stabbings, is a distant relative of the couple who he refered to as "Uncle Pat" and "Aunt Evelyn."

According to the police report, Bostick, a student at Freedom High School in Tampa, joined two others in running errands the weekend before Halloween 2006. They ended up at the DePalmas' home, and Bostick and another person, whom the DePalmas also knew, were let into the home. Bostick and the two individuals with him sat and talked to the couple, then one of them asked Bostick to go out to the car and get a cell phone.

When Bostick returned, the DePalmas were dead, stabbed numerous times. Bostick told sheriff's officials that one of the others had a large fixed-blade knife in a sheath. The other two began ransacking the house and Bostick joined them. He also carried out a garbage bag full of the victims' belongings. Bostick made the statements to a Hernando detective on Thursday. The other suspects will be named later after further investigation, according to the police report.

Now 18, Bostick is being held at the Juvenile Detention Center in Ocala. Click here to read previous coverage of the case from the St. Petersburg Times.

Barbara Behrendt, Times staff writer

(Photo courtesy of Hillsborough County Sheriff Office)