SPRING HILL, Fla. — Pasco County detectives are still trying to figure out who killed a member of the Pagan's Motorcycle Club, who was gunned down at the end of his own driveway Wednesday morning in Spring Hill.
James William Earl, 32, was found dead by his fiancé Stephanie Harper.
On Christmas Eve, Harper had said yes, promising to marry Earl. Three weeks later, he was dead.
“I was leaving for work and he was there,” Harper said.
Deputies say Earl was a known member of the biker club, but Harper says he was much more than that.
He was a step-father to Harper’s 6-year-old daughter. Earl had two children from a previous relationship.
“Mostly I want people to know that he was a decorated combat veteran,” Harper said. "That he was a father, son, a grandson, stepfather a friend and brother.”
Asked if she had any enemies, Harper said, “Not that I know of. James was loved by a ton of people.”
As for a motive? Earl’s affiliation with the Pagan's, she said, might have had nothing to do with it.
“Honestly, I don’t know. People are crazy these days,” said Harper. “It could be a robbery. It could be road rage.”
Earl had served in the U.S. Navy, says Harper. He was studying to become an aviation mechanic.
What he did on his own time, she says, didn’t define him.
“There are way worse people in this world then somebody that wears a patch,” said Harper.
Now, instead of planning a wedding, Harper is planning a funeral. The rest of his family, she says, is from out of state, and so they are still trying to work out arrangements.
She wants to see whoever killed her fiancé brought to justice.
“I will sit through every day of any trial and I will look him in the face when they put those bracelets on him,” she said.
Because the case involved a known biker club member, federal agents are also involved. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms ATF confirms its agents were on the scene Wednesday. A spokesperson for the FBI says agents are ready to assist the Pasco sheriff’s office in any way they can if asked.
Crime Stoppers is also offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
“James was very well loved. Anybody that ever met him, he was goofy and silly. He liked to joke and laugh and turn on music and dance around like a fool. And James lived his life loving,” Harper said.
“That’s what I want people to know. I don’t want this to turn into just some gang member was shot,” she said. “That’s not what it was. The love of my life was murdered. That’s what it was.”
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