‘A pretty bloody scene’: Renter accused of attacking landlord and crashing vehicle into the home

By Rachael Perry

Click here for updates on this story

    JENSEN BEACH, Florida (WPBF) — The Martin County Sheriff’s Office is investigating what they’re calling a violent attack in Jensen Beach.

Major Ruben Romero with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said they responded to a home on the 1000 block of NE Oceanview Circle, where they found a woman lying on the floor. Romero said the victim, a woman in her 60s, was unconscious and had been brutally beaten.

“When we showed up, our deputies arrived to a pretty bloody scene. The female was lying on the floor unconscious at the moment. She did regain consciousness through some lifesaving measures, fire rescue partners at Martin County Fire Rescue, as well as ourselves,” Romero said.

The victim was flown to the hospital, where she’s now in stable condition.

Romero said they found the suspect, Brian Christian Leach, inside his vehicle parked in front of the home with self-inflicted wounds.

“He attempted to take her life as well as take his own life,” Romero said.

According to the MCSO, Leach had been renting the downstairs unit from the victim, who was living upstairs. Investigators said Leach and the victim had dated in the past.

The sheriff’s office said that Leach invited the victim to dinner, where she told him she was planning to evict him.

“He became enraged and attacked her pretty much for no reason other than the fact that he didn’t like that he was being evicted,” Romero told WPBF.

Romero said the victim sustained very serious injuries and is lucky to be alive.

“Per his statements and some of the evidence, we do know he beat her, probably with his fist, may have used some household utensils to stab her. Luckily for her, and we’re super thankful that she didn’t die, and she’s making a recovery at the moment,” he said.

Before allegedly trying to take his own life, Romero said Leach rammed his vehicle into the home.

“He also hit some of the parked structures, the victim’s car, some of the neighbors’ cars. We don’t know what the intent was there, maybe to further damage the residents and maybe speed up the suicide attempt, but we do know that he used his vehicle as some sort of mechanism to strike the house,” he explained.

Romero said overall, the scene was shocking.

“When you pulled up on the scene, you definitely seen a very bloody violent scene. There was blood on the car, blood inside the residence, a trail of blood basically from the driveway all the way up into the residence. It’s not something you expected to see at Oceanview Circle in Jensen Beach. It’s a pretty quiet neighborhood,” he said.

WPBF 25 News spoke with several neighbors who said the victim has lived on Oceanview Circle for roughly 30 years and is a very kind woman.

Neighbors Doug and Peggy echoed Romero’s comments about the neighborhood being quiet.

“Everyone walks the streets, everyone knows everybody. Something like this happens, and it’s a wildfire to the neighborhood,” Doug and Peggy said.

Romero said they were shocked to learn Leach has no prior criminal offenses.

“What’s surprising to us about this case is there is no priors between any of them. There are no domestic violence issues. There are no crime reports. We have a few civil issues in our premise histories that we did. He has a few traffic citations, but other than that, this is kind of a shock. Both of them are in their late 60s. Like I said, they did have a romantic past, but no longer a romantic past. They’re just friends, and the attack was pretty much a shock to all of us,” Romero added.

Leach is at a hospital under the supervision of law enforcement. When he is released from the hospital, he will be taken to the Martin County Jail on a charge of attempted murder.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.