Updated: Deputy Predicts Burglary Suspects' Next Move, Leading To Capture

Date Added: May 08, 2017 2:00 pm

Andrew Gant
Public Information Office

Update: 2:34 p.m.

Around 6:30 a.m., 21-year-old Jaylen King (DOB 1/18/1996), was also located in the same vicinity of Benson Junction Road, DeBary, where Blunt and Broaden were apprehended earlier in the morning. King had leafy brush on his back and on his pants and said he was just walking. He was charged with loitering and prowling by VCSO and turned over to New Smyrna Beach PD to face their burglary charges.

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DEPUTY PREDICTS BURGLARY SUSPECTS’ NEXT MOVE, LEADING TO CAPTURE

The suspects started hitting cell phone stores in New Smyrna Beach just after 1 a.m., with limited success. They broke into an AT&T store by shattering the front door, leaving broken glass on the ground. They tried busting the glass at two more nearby storefronts – Sprint and Verizon – and failed both times, taking off empty-handed in separate vehicles.

But they were already on surveillance video, and pretty soon their vehicle descriptions were out on police radio.

And about an hour later, when a Volusia County sheriff’s deputy decided to monitor a Metro PCS store in Deltona he thought might be the next target, he was right.  

Later Monday morning, after a failed escape attempt from Deltona to I-4 to some woods in DeBary, two suspects were in the custody of deputies aided by K-9s on the ground and helicopters overhead.

The suspects, 19-year-old Craig Blunt Jr. (DOB 12/29/1997) and 22-year-old Saevon Broaden (DOB 5/7/1995), were each driving stolen vehicles. The Sheriff’s Office charged each with grand theft of a motor vehicle and turned the suspects over to New Smyrna Beach PD, which is investigating the burglary cases.

The deputy who spotted Blunt and Broaden in Deltona was Deputy Justin Ferrari, who heard the New Smyrna Beach burglaries reported over the radio around 1:40 a.m. Police believed the suspects were headed west, and Ferrari knew the Metro PCS store could be on their way. When he saw the white Dodge Journey and black Honda Accord show up in the parking lot, he turned off his headlights and started relaying his observations over the radio. When the suspects left the parking lot, he followed.

Deputies ahead were able to deploy stop sticks on both suspect vehicles, which then headed for westbound I-4. The black Accord was soon discovered abandoned, sitting across the two outside lanes of traffic, with passing vehicles including a semi truck taking evasive action to avoid hitting it. Deputies determined the Accord driver had jumped into the Dodge Journey, which continued fleeing westbound despite its flattened tire.

Following gouge marks in the highway caused by the SUV’s rims, deputies tracked the vehicle to Benson Junction Road in DeBary, where it was abandoned with a door ajar.

Blunt was the first to be caught around 4:15 a.m. He still had shards of glass in his shoes. Broaden was apprehended around 5:30 a.m. after Alert One, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office helicopter that was assisting Air One in the search, led a K-9 unit to his location. He was carrying a pair of black rubber gloves.