An eight-year-old cold case has now been solved by the detectives in the Florida Keys as a 54-year-old Hugh Timothy Blanton has been charged with the murder of Ronald Silvia, 65, that took place in 2012. Blanton and Silvia were lovers, according to the Monroe County investigators. However, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Blanton was upset about the fact that Silvia was showing a picture of his genitals around the campground where they actually lived.
Later, Silvia was found dead inside his burning motor home wherein he was beaten and strangled to death with fire being set near or on his genitals after his death, according to the police. About a month later, Blanton was questioned who said that they were friends and clearly denied any sexual relationship. However, he was arrested for hitchhiking by the Broward County deputies.
In addition to that, the pair were heard arguing over the photography by their neighbors at the now closed Seahorse RV Park on Big Pine Key. Blanton had given a statement that he was upset about the picture but made it clear that Silvia was alive when he had last seen him.
However, in a 2017 incident, according to the Miami Herald, he shoved a woman into a heater and also stabbed a man with a cooking fork that led to him serving 13 months in jail in Volusia County. He was released in August 2019 but when his DNA sample was taken by Monroe County Sheriff’s Detective Vince Weiner and compared to the DNA that was found beneath Silvia’s fingernails, it matched perfectly.
He was then arrested on Friday on first degree murder and arson charges and was booked back into the Volusia County jail by the Daytona Beach Police.