Georgia investigators will show up at a Daytona Beach, Fla., hospital today to question a Thomson teen suspected of killing his parents and then fleeing to the Sunshine State.
A day after David and Terri Dean were buried side by side in a McDuffie County cemetery, two agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation will attempt to interview the couple's 18-year-old son, Matt Dean, and answer questions about the slayings.
''We'll try to piece together the events from beginning to end, and 'why' would be a big part of that,'' said Mike Seigler, a GBI assistant agent in charge.
One thing police might want to check into is why Mr. Dean needed money.
The day before the shootings of his parents, a family friend said, Mr. Dean approached him looking for a loan.
''Thursday night he came by asking for money for a phone bill,'' said Ronny Duckworth, whose son Andrew was a friend of Matt's. ''He went to several folks.''
Mr. Duckworth, who coached Mr. Dean in McDuffie County Recreation Department baseball from the age 9 to high school, said the teen discussed his family with him only occasionally.
''The only thing I ever heard him really say was that he wished he had a permanent home to live in because his mom and daddy built homes and they moved a lot,'' Mr. Duckworth said.
Mr. Duckworth said it was about two years ago that he began seeing a change in Mr. Dean as he became involved with a different group of teens.
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Matt Dean, 18, is under police guard around the clock.
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Mr. Dean remained in serious condition Tuesday in the intensive surgical care unit of Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach.
His legs and several ribs were broken Saturday in a head-on collision with a truck inside the grounds of Kennedy Space Center. The crash killed the truck's driver, 52-year-old Eddie Delawder of Winter Park, Fla.
Volusia County Corrections officers are guarding Mr. Dean around the clock, and he will remain in their custody until he can be extradited to Georgia, where McDuffie County officials have obtained two warrants for murder and one for aggravated assault.
No charges have been filed in the Florida fatality as Kennedy Space Center officials continue to investigate. A final report could take weeks, spokesman Bill Johnson said.
''We've never had an accident involving a fatality where someone was obviously on the run from something,'' Mr. Johnson said.
GBI agents traveled to Florida on Tuesday and were expected to take possession of a small-caliber handgun that Florida officials found in the wrecked 2000 Ford Taurus that Mr. Dean had been driving. Agent Seigler said he suspects the gun was used in the slayings.
Meanwhile, McDuffie County Sheriff Logan Marshall released new details of the slayings Tuesday. He said the parents were eating dinner in their three-bedroom home about 7:30 p.m. Friday when they were each shot in the head. Their daughter Bethany was in the bathroom drying her hair when she heard two ''pops,'' the sheriff said.
''She came out and saw the father fall out of the chair,'' Sheriff Marshall said. At some point afterward, Bethany was stabbed with a knife several times on her upper body, he said.
''She was lying on the floor. I don't know whether she was playing dead on the floor or what,'' the sheriff said.
Bethany was eventually able to run to a neighbor's house, from which police were called.
On Monday night, Bethany's friends expressed surprised when they saw her at an open house for Thomson High School.
''It was a nice surprise,'' said Regina Daniel, a former neighbor of the Dean family. ''No one knew she was going to be there.''
Mrs. Daniel said Bethany was in good spirits but was in a wheel chair with three visible stab marks and an injury on the head. She said students and parents welcomed her to the school with hugs.
On Tuesday, nearly 400 people crowded into the Beggs Funeral Home to mourn Mr. and Mrs. Dean. Local recording artist Terri Gibbs of Grovetown sang during the service as two hardwood caskets covered in red roses lay in front. The couple was later buried in Savannah Valley Memorial Gardens.
Staff Writer Preston Sparks contributed to this article.
Reach Greg Rickabaugh at (706) 828-3851 or greg.rickabaugh@augustachronicle.com.
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