QUINCY, Fla. (WTXL) - As Quincy police investigate last week's triple homicide, we're looking into the history of the abandoned house where it happened.
Last week, three people were found murdered inside an abandoned home in Quincy that law enforcement says was intentionally set on fire.
The city says the home on 7th Street was deemed a nuisance, a public hazard and a "dangerous" building last year.
The house was supposed to be demolished, but it was never put to paper and nothing ever happened to it. The city said the process to do that should've been quicker and the mayor says it's time to speed it up.
The city considered the structure "dilapidated" at a hearing last May about the house. This was the property's first violation, according to the city manager.
The owner, a man named Joe Nathan Miller, racked up hundreds of dollars in fines by never addressing code violations. The owner died in 2013, and the county said it hadn't received property taxes on the home.
County records show the property switched hands a few times between Miller and his daughter Robin Watkins from 2009 to 2010, at the price of $100. We reached out to Robin Watkins for comment, and we're waiting to hear back.
Last December, a company in Ohio bought the house at a public auction for just over $3,000. The company that now owns the property is "Tax Ease Funding 2016-1, LLC." That's based in Cincinnati.
The county issued a tax deed to the company in December 2017, but those records only list a P.O. Box mailing address to contact the company. It's registered as an active for-profit LLC in Ohio as of this month, but we can't track down any other contact information.
The county says Tax Ease Funding 2016-1 LLC is responsible for the property since it bought the house last year.
Quincy's mayor said last week's tragedy
"They're causing problems in our neighborhood with people going in living, doing all sorts of activities, from drugs, prostitution and other illicit activities." said Angela Sapp, the mayor of Quincy. "We're beefing up what we're doing. We're speeding up our process as far as our code enforcement goes, so that we don't have all this time that the owners, or the property owners, will have all this time to bring something into compliance."
The mayor is proposing a smaller time frame for property owners to demolish dangerous buildings from 45 to 20 days. If nothing still happens, the mayor said she wants the city to do it and charge the property owner for the fee.
Quincy's mayor said last week's tragedy makes dealing with dangerous homes a priority.
"They're causing problems in our neighborhood with people going in living, doing all sorts of activities, from drugs, prostitution and other illicit activities." said Angela Sapp, the mayor of Quincy. "We're beefing up what we're doing. We're speeding up our process as far as our code enforcement goes, so that we don't have all this time that the owners, or the property owners, will have all this time to bring something into compliance."
The mayor is proposing a smaller time frame for property owners to demolish dangerous buildings from 45 to 20 days. If nothing still happens, the mayor said she wants the city to do it and charge the property owner for the fee.
