BRADENTON, FL — A Florida woman is now the focus of two linked homicide investigations after authorities say she shot and killed both of her ex-husbands in separate counties on the same day.

Investigators in Manatee County say 48-year-old Susan Erica Avalon killed one former husband Wednesday afternoon in a Bradenton neighborhood, then traveled to Tampa where another ex-husband was later found dead, according to reporting from WWSB. Detectives believe the cases are connected and are coordinating across jurisdictions.

According to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, the first shooting happened around 3 p.m. Detectives say Avalon used stolen food from a nearby Panera Bread restaurant as a pretext to get the victim to open his front door. Surveillance video shows Avalon entering the Panera, taking food from a delivery pickup shelf without paying, and then heading toward the victim’s home about a mile and a half away, investigators said.

“When this victim opens the door, suspect starts to fire immediately,” a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said.

License plate reader data tracked Avalon’s silver Honda Odyssey from Citrus County through Hillsborough County, across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge into Manatee County, and then back again, according to investigators cited by WWSB.

Court records show Avalon and the Manatee County victim had been divorced for roughly 11 years and were involved in prolonged custody disputes. Records indicate Avalon owed about $4,000 in unpaid child support and was facing a December deadline to pay $200 or risk losing her driver’s license.

Neighbors told WWSB the Bradenton victim was well known in the area. Ronald Andriano said he saw him regularly on morning walks. “I met him about a year and a half ago, he walks every morning from his house down to our town park. Every morning when he is walking by we say hello,” Andriano said. “We talked a little bit, he was such a nice man. his family, his daughters, his son, all nice. His two dogs, just a very gentle, nice family.”

According to investigators, when deputies later arrived at Avalon’s home in Citrus County, they found her cleaning the minivan with bleach and rags. During questioning, detectives said that when they told her they needed to talk about her ex-husband, Avalon replied, “Which one?”

That response prompted Manatee County detectives to request a welfare check from Tampa Police at the home of Avalon’s other ex-husband on the 1200 block of East Frierson Avenue. Officers found an adult man dead inside the residence from multiple gunshot wounds, with damage to a rear door that appeared consistent with forced entry, authorities said.

Tampa Police said in a news release that investigators believe the Tampa homicide is related to the Manatee County case and that the shooter and victim were known to one another. Manatee County homicide detectives said they are working “in coordination with the Tampa Police Department” and have identified credible evidence linking the two killings. Both agencies are working with the State Attorney’s Office to determine what charges may apply in the Tampa case.

Avalon’s live-in boyfriend told detectives she had recently tracked down the Manatee County victim’s address and told him the day before the shootings that she loved him “in case something happens to her,” according to investigators. He also said Avalon showered after returning home, still wearing the same gray sweatshirt seen in the Panera surveillance video.

Additional reporting by Tampa Bay 28 highlights a long and volatile history between Avalon and both men. Court records show Avalon and ex-husband David Scott, who investigators allege was killed in Bradenton, divorced in 2013 and fought over custody of their five children, who ultimately went to live with Scott, with Avalon granted only supervised visitation. A court document filed by Scott’s attorney alleged that during a supervised visit in January 2017, Avalon “had some sort of mental breakdown where she began ranting, raving and screaming at the top of her lungs.”

Avalon later filed a domestic violence injunction petition against Scott in 2019, alleging abuse and threats. A judge denied the petition, finding no probable cause.

The second victim, identified in court records as Timothy Fletcher of Tampa, had a law enforcement background and shared two children with Avalon, according to Tampa Bay 28. Fletcher filed a domestic violence petition in 2016 in which he wrote that he believed Avalon suffered from mental illness and alleged she had threatened him repeatedly, according to WTVT.

In the handwritten petition, Fletcher stated that Avalon “asked me and my father to kill David Scott on numerous occasions.” He also wrote that she had told him “you deserve to be dead” and “I should slit your neck.” That petition was also denied by a judge.

Records further show Avalon was arrested on a child abuse charge in Virginia in 2004, and that child abuse cases in Tampa and Pasco County were later dropped. Investigators say those cases stemmed from custody disputes with her ex-husbands.

Avalon currently faces a second-degree murder charge in Manatee County. Prosecutors there have said they plan to seek a first-degree murder charge and the death penalty. Tampa authorities continue to run a separate homicide investigation related to the second victim.

Investigators say the case affects about five children from both marriages. Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells told ABC7 the circumstances are unlike anything he has encountered. “Nothing like this, nothing that is really domestic in nature where a husband or wife decides they want to end the life of someone they once loved. Nothing like this,” Wells said.

Avalon remains in custody in Citrus County. Authorities say the murder weapon has not been located, and detectives are still searching her vehicle for evidence. Both Tampa Police and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office have emphasized that the investigations are ongoing and that additional updates will be released as they become available.