http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/08/08/bodies.found/index.aspx

Sunday, August 8, 2004 Posted: 10:27 AM EDT (1427 GMT)

DELTONA, Florida (CNN) -- Authorities in Deltona, Florida, have arrested and charged four people in the killings of six people in a rental home, Volusia County' s sheriff said Sunday.

Sheriff Ben Johnson said the murder was organized by a man who was angry because he believed his Xbox video game system and some clothes had been stolen.

Alleged ringleader Troy Victorino, 27, has not confessed, but three teenagers Johnson said Victorino recruited to assist him have, Johnson said. The three were identified as Robert Cannon, 18; Jerone Hunter, 18; and Michael Salas, 18.

All are charged with first degree murder and armed burglary.

The Associated Press reported that Victorino has a criminal record.

The four killers, armed with aluminum baseball bats, forced their way into the home where the victims were in beds early Friday morning, and beat them to death -- just as Victorino planned, Johnson said.

The victims had no chance to arm themselves or fight back, he said. " There was no way they could really defend themselves."

All of the victims experienced severe trauma -- and one body was so badly mangled that it has not yet been officially identified, he said.

" This is the worst thing I' ve ever seen in my career," Johnson said.

Authorities have released the names of two of the victims -- Michelle Nathan, 19, and Jonathan Gleason, 18, both of Deltona.

Investigators believe the attack occurred about 1 a.m. Friday. The bodies were found Friday morning about 6:30 a.m. when a co-worker, alarmed because one of the people failed to show up for work, went to the home and found the blood-spattered crime scene.

Victorino and Hunter were taken in for questioning on Sunday. Hunter confessed, and led authorities to Cannon and Salas, said Johnson.

Johnson said he does not believe any other people were involved in the incident.

Thats sad. Obviously its has nothing to do with XBox or microsoft. But if u check the news, its stated that microsoft ' may' get a lawsuit on their hands.

thats the problem with people these days. One guy or more goes insane and murders a few people and heads start turning to the video game industry. Pisses me off. Fact is, people will alwasy look for someone to blame and as games get more and more violent( especially with all the new innovations and visuals ) the level of outcry from the general public increases. They just cant seem to see that violence is everywhere, even in cartoons, and now more and more lunatics are using games as an excuse most likely to plea for insanity.

bah i give up. been through to many of these similar subjects.

Sheriff Ben Johnson said the murder was organized by a man who was angry because he believed his Xbox video game system and some clothes had been stolen.

Well there were stolen clothes involved as well so I guess they can' t focus on just the stolen Xbox ;).

Are you kidding? Since the clothes were stolen, now the Xbox (or videogames in general) will be blamed for public nudity as well. John Ashcroft is now waging a battle against porn. Coincidence? If anyone tries to sue Microsoft, it will surely get thrown out of court. Not even legitimate complaints against MS go anywhere. Stuff like this makes me sick.

If you read into this story this had nothing to do with videogames. It was about respect. The alleged " ring leader" asked those people to help him murder those people because he felt they had disrespected him. So, lets not blame videogames, lets blame the gangster attitude and view on respect in America.

Well, at least scapegoating is getting a littlebit more diverse and orriginal. I mean, after all this could be just another jew bashing and everyone would be like " c' mon not again, so many people have tried and its getting old, just leave the people alone." But Gaming is somthing i enjoy too much, so i think that we all should band together and start blaming the Italians for EVERYTHING. Its their fault for global warming with their dego mustaches and their olive oil. Its their fault for the war in Iraq with their fettachini and their tortalini. Yeah i know, im going to hell...