Keys man behind cold case murder, cops say. He’s already doing life for shooting a deputy
A Florida Keys man was sentenced to life for shooting a deputy in 2015. Police now say he was the gunman behind the cold case killing of a teen.
On June 25, 2010, Timothy Thomas, 33, broke into the home of 16-year-old Sebastian Ochsenius in Gainesville, Florida, and shot him to death in the kitchen, according to investigators. Thomas was arrested on murder and burglary charges, court records show.
Thomas was jailed for life in 2018 after being convicted of shooting a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputy in the chest during a shootout three years prior on Stock Island.
“This family has had to endure this for 13-and-a-half years to get to the point of having some better understanding of what occurred here and why it occurred,” State Attorney Brian Kramer said at a Monday news conference.
At around 3:40 a.m., the high school honors student, who had been playing video games, encountered the burglar while heading into the kitchen for something to drink. After waking up to the sounds of gunfire, Sebastian’s family found his body riddled with bullets on the floor, Alachua County Sheriff Emery Gainey said.
Gainey said new evidence uncovered in 2021 led investigators to focus on Thomas as a suspect. The sheriff, however, declined to elaborate on what was behind the “significant break.”
While commending officials for cracking the case, Boris Ochsenius Jr. reflected on the long wait for answers in his brother’s murder.
“It’s been...13 and a half years we’ve been suffering through this. He was only 16 years of age,” he said. “His life was stolen.”
Shootout with a deputy
At the news conference, the sheriff played snippets of the Keys shootout, also commenting on Thomas’ violent nature during the incident. Footage of the firefight, in which dozens of shots were exchanged, was caught on Deputy Joshua Gordon’s dashboard camera.
Gordon survived what would have likely been a direct hit to the heart because of his body armor.
At the time, Thomas was a suspect in an armed robbery that happened days before near Key West High School. He was also wanted on a probation violation and for marijuana charges by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Following a car chase, Thomas ducked back into the car and emerged blasting rounds at Gordon, who immediately returned fire. Gordon emptied all 16 rounds from his Glock 22 .40 caliber service handgun. Sgt. David Lariz arrived and got out of his car firing every bullet from his Glock 21 .45 caliber pistol.
Thomas then sped off, again. Gordon retrieved his AR-15 rifle from his trunk and fired three rounds toward him, but Thomas continued firing as he drove off.
He surrendered the next day in Key West after an hours-long standoff.
Miami Herald staff writer David Goodhue contributed to this report
