Sheriff: Florida family massacre followed random encounter

By CURT ANDERSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Florida sheriff says a chance encounter with a former Marine beset by delusions of child sex trafficking ultimately led to the massacre of four members of a Florida family including mother holding a baby boy.  Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says suspect Bryan Riley stopped by the slain family’s Lakeland home briefly after going to a nearby friend’s house to pick up a first aid kit for a Hurricane Ida relief trip. A short distance away, Riley saw Justice Gleason mowing his lawn with his 11-year-old daughter in the yard. Judd says Riley later returned and killed Gleason and three others. The girl survived by playing dead.