Two ex-U.S. Army men arrested in 2018 double homicide at Estero site on Corkscrew Road (2024)

Two former U.S. military men have been charged in the April 2018 murder of two people in Estero and are linked to intrigue in the highest levels of American democracy.

Thecase includes wars in East Africa and parts of the formerSoviet Union, sexual exploitation and links to aFacebook chat about killing an American presidential candidate.

A caller reported they found Brooksville residents Serafin "Danny" Lorenzo, 53, and Deana K. Lorenzo, 51,dead the morning ofApril 9 in a parking lot ofan Estero complexcalled the Galleria.

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A 33-page criminal complaint filed Aug. 19 in the U.S. District Court Middle District charged two men—Alex Jared Zwiefelhofer, 22, and Craig Austin Lang, 29—with the murders of the Lorenzos during an armed robbery.

Themen are facing charges includingconspiracy to commit interference with commerce by violence, interference with commerce by violence, conspiracy to use and carry a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence and use and discharge ofa firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno saidZwiefelhofer and Lang are in custody and will be extradited to Lee County.

"They will be tried here," Marcenosaid, adding that the case will likely involve areas far outside Lee County.

Zwiefelhofer made his initial appearance in Madison, Wisconsin, and was detained pending his return to the Middle District of Florida in Fort Myers. Lang is in custody, in Ukraine, pursuant to a provisional arrest request from the United States.

The complaint said Zwiefelhofer and Lang carried out the robbery offCorkscrew Roadto obtain money to fund travel to Venezuela to participate in armed conflict in nearby Bolivia.

One body was found inthe parking lot and the other was in a red truck that had multiple bullet holes and shot-out windows. Residentshad reported multiple gunshots late the night before.

The Galleria campus contains Legacy Church, an insurance company, title office, engineer firm and other businesses. On the back of the property is the Estates at Estero River development.

The investigation into the double homicide has beenongoing, the sheriff's office said.

The background

Lang, from North Carolina, was a member of the U.S. Army from 2008 until 2014 and, according to the criminal complaint, was living in the Ukraine, a part of the former Soviet Union.

Zwiefelhofer, from Wisconsin, joined the U.S. Army in April 2015 but went absent without leaveSept. 27, 2016, and was discharged in February 2018. He is in custody of federal marshals in Madison, Wisconsin, as part of a separate federal offense.

The two men first came to the attention of authorities in June 2017 at the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, when they were detained trying to enter South Sudan. They weredeported to the U.S.

Lang told customs officials he had been a soldier and military adviser to the Ukrainian army since 2015 and had been trying to enter the Sudan to help fight with that country's military.

Zwiefelhofer returned to the U.S. August 2017 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and told FBI and customs officials that he had joined the French Foreign Legion but left when he learned the commitment requirements.

He told officials that he then went to the Ukraine where he met Lang and fought against Russian separatists with a volunteer battalion called the Right Sector.

He said that he and Lang went to the Sudan to fight al-Shabaab, a fundamentalist militant group in East Africa.

Videos found onZwiefelhofer's cell phone while investigators questioned him led to his being charged in North Carolina with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. The charges there are pending, the complaint said.

The Estero investigation

Duringthe Lorenzo slaying investigation, the complaint said that a wallet was found nearDeana K. Lorenzo with a bill of sale for a firearms transaction.

The shots fired, entry wounds and spacing indicated to investigators that two people were involved in the homicides, one firing from the rear into the passenger side of the truckwhere Deana K. Lorenzo was found dead and the other from the front passenger side of the truck were Serafin Lorenzo was found.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office forensics unit collected 63 spent shell casings including 9 mm and high-powered-rifle casings.

Deana K. Lorenzo was shot seven times, mostly in the head and lower body. Serafin Lorenzo was shot 11 times in the head, neck and abdomen.

Further investigation found evidence on a cell phone belonging to the Lorenzos showing they had traveled the more than two hours to Estero to meet someone to buy firearms listed on a Internet site called ARMSLIST.

There was a specific text thread shown onDeana K. Lorenzo's phone and linked to a cell phone believed used by one of the suspects and initiated April 9.

The complaint said Serafin Lorenzohad been regularly engaged in buying and reselling real and personal property, an action described as "flipping," and had intended to buy and resell the advertised firearms.

Serafin Lorenzo had also withdrawn $3,000 on April 9, bringing the money with him to Estero. The arms for sale included severalGlock 17 handguns, Uzi 9 mm pistol, a Star 9 mm pistol and various other items, investigators said.

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Cell phones, social media

Detectives used information from Serafin Lorenzo'scell phones and neighborhood information to determinethe slayings happened about 10:55 p.m.

It linked cell phones used by the suspects as well as gmail and Facebook to activity involvingthe Lorenzo contact.

Previously: More than 40 Lee County homicides in 2018 included Fort Myers police officer

More: Lee County Sheriff's Office identifies 5who died in Estero, Lehigh, south Fort Myers killings

And: Fort Myers woman identified as Saturday homicide victim in Bonita Springs neighborhood

The investigation showed Zwiefelhofer and Lang traveled separately throughparts of the country with family members or by bus.

Zwiefelhofer and Lang also took "selfies" while wearing Hawaiian-style tropical shirts in what appeared to be ahotel room after they arrived in Miami in April 2018.

A phonelinked to the suspects pinged cell towers along Alligator Alley the night of the slayings. A phone text message from Serafin Lorenzo's phone to the suspect's phone stating "I'm at the church" was made nine minutes before the homicides took place, the complaint said.

Ten minutes after the killings, the complaint said, the suspect's phone was pinging near Bonita Beach Road.

Facebook communication between the two men during the time around the homicidesindicated they would have firearms while in Miami and commitrobberies and kill a yacht owner if needed.

Marceno noted cooperation between his office, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney.

"There was tireless work from our detectives. Without that we wouldn't be here today," he said. "You get lucky sometimes, but this is no mistake. There was tons of hard work and dedication and cooperation through all the partners."

Lead Sheriff's Office homicide detective Sarah Rodriguez said among the surprises the investigation faced was that the two suspects were trained military men.

"Any time you are dealing with people in the service who are training to protect, but who do the opposite, it's surprising," she said.

Third soldier arrested

Federal authorities said Monday they arrested another Army soldier who they accused of discussing with an FBI informant a possible bomb attack within the United States as well as targeting left-leaning activists and a media organization.

Jarrett William Smith, a 24-year-old private first class infantry soldier from South Carolina stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, was arrested Saturday and later charged with one count of sharing bomb-making instructions online.

An ABC News report also said Lang has been mentioned as connected to the Smith case.

In December2018, Smith allegedly led a group chat on Facebook with Lang,termed as a "mentor" to Smith, that included discussing Smith's ability to build bombs, the ABC report said.

According to the report, Smithsaid, "Oh yeah, I got knowledge of IEDs for days. We can make cell phone IEDs in the style of the Afghans. I can teach you that."

The ABC report also said that on Aug. 19,Smithspoke with an FBI informant in an online chat group and discussed a plan for an attack inside the U.S.

He also discussedhis search for more "radicals" like himself, the possibility of killing members of the group Antifa,suggested targeting Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, and blowing up the headquarters of the major news network, identified later as CNN.

Connect with this reporter: MichaelBraunNP (Facebook) @MichaelBraunNP (Twitter).