Domestic violence doesn't always look like the cases plastered across the evening news.
Sometimes it's hiding in plain sight, waiting for the day when rage finally boils over.
But two words from a Florida woman left deputies frozen in disbelief.
Deputies tracked the silver Honda across two Florida counties
Deputies with the Manatee County Sheriff's Office responded to a Bradenton home Wednesday afternoon after receiving reports of a shooting.¹
They found a 54-year-old man suffering from two gunshot wounds to the abdomen.
The man was still alive and able to speak when deputies arrived at 3 p.m.
Deputies asked him the question every cop needs answered at a crime scene: "Who could have done this to you?"
The dying man's response pointed them toward his ex-wife, Susan Avalon.²
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His 15-year-old daughter heard three gunshots and looked out the window.
She spotted someone wearing a gray sweatshirt and surgical mask jumping into a silver Honda Odyssey and speeding away.³
The couple had been divorced for 11 years but were locked in bitter custody disputes.
Avalon owed him roughly $4,000 in unpaid child support.⁴
She faced a December deadline to pay $200 or lose her driver's license.⁵
Detectives discovered surveillance footage from a nearby Panera Bread showing Avalon walking into the restaurant, grabbing someone else's food order from the delivery pickup area, and walking out without paying.
She used the stolen food as bait to get her ex-husband to open his front door.
The moment he cracked the door open, she opened fire.⁶
"It doesn't get any more brazen than this," Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells said during a press conference.⁷
"This is a very active neighborhood. It's three o'clock in the afternoon on a Wednesday. Kids are coming home from school. A lot of activity as you can imagine. She didn't seem to care."
Detectives spotted her wiping down the silver Honda with bleach
Deputies tracked Avalon's license plate crossing the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and heading north to her home in Citrus County, about 125 miles away.⁸
When detectives arrived at her residence Wednesday evening, they found Avalon outside her home.
She was carrying bleach and cleaning rags.
Avalon walked straight to her silver Honda Odyssey and started wiping it down.⁹
That's when detectives approached and told her they needed to speak with her about her ex-husband.
Avalon looked at them and asked: "Which one?"¹⁰
Those two words changed everything.
Detectives only knew about one ex-husband at that point — the man bleeding out in a Bradenton hospital who would die from his wounds later that night.
But Avalon's question revealed there was another victim.
She started rambling about her ex-husband being a child abuser and molester.
Detectives quickly realized Avalon thought they were from Hillsborough County, not Manatee County.
She was talking about a completely different ex-husband.¹¹
Investigators immediately contacted Tampa Police Department and requested a welfare check on Avalon's second ex-husband.
Officers arrived at the Tampa home and found damage to the back door.
Inside, they discovered Avalon's second ex-husband dead from multiple gunshot wounds.¹²
Detectives believe Avalon shot him first Wednesday morning before driving to Bradenton to kill her other ex-husband.
Avalon's live-in boyfriend told investigators something chilling.
The day before the murders, Avalon told him "in case something happens to her" that she loved him.
He said the comment was completely out of character.¹³
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When she returned home Wednesday wearing the gray sweatshirt, she got in the shower fully clothed and never mentioned what happened.¹⁴
She made derogatory comments about both ex-husbands but never confessed to the shootings.
Avalon faces second-degree murder charges in Manatee County.
Sheriff Wells announced prosecutors plan to upgrade the charge to first-degree murder and pursue the death penalty.¹⁵
"She knew what she was doing. It was planned," Wells stated.¹⁶
Roughly 200 domestic violence incidents in Florida result in death each year, accounting for 20% of all murders in the state.¹⁷
Women are far more likely to be victims than perpetrators in domestic homicide cases.
But this case flips that script entirely.
Avalon executed two men in broad daylight, separated by more than 50 miles and several hours, using careful planning and deliberate deception to gain access to both victims.
She stole food to pose as a delivery driver.
She researched her first ex-husband's address after losing track of him.
She cleaned her vehicle with bleach to destroy evidence.
And when caught, she revealed she'd been juggling grudges against multiple ex-husbands simultaneously.
The five children caught between these two failed marriages now face life without their fathers because Avalon decided Wednesday was the day to settle old scores.
Tampa authorities are working with the State Attorney's Office to determine charges for the second murder.
Avalon remains in custody in Citrus County as investigators continue searching her vehicle and hunting for the murder weapon.
¹ Nicole Acevedo, "Florida woman accused of gunning down two ex-husbands on same day," NBC News, December 20, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ "Florida woman charged with murder for killing both her ex-husbands on same day," The Post Millennial, December 20, 2025.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ "Citrus County woman accused of killing two ex-husbands in separate shootings on same day," WWSB, December 17, 2025.
⁷ "FL Woman Fatally Shot Her 2 Ex-Husbands On Same Day: Sheriff," Patch, December 18, 2025.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Nicole Acevedo, "Florida woman accused of gunning down two ex-husbands on same day," NBC News, December 20, 2025.
¹⁰ Ibid.
¹¹ "Citrus County woman accused of shooting and killing 2 ex-husbands: 'This is bizarre'," FOX 13 Tampa Bay, December 18, 2025.
¹² Nicole Acevedo, "Florida woman accused of gunning down two ex-husbands on same day," NBC News, December 20, 2025.
¹³ "FL Woman Fatally Shot Her 2 Ex-Husbands On Same Day: Sheriff," Patch, December 18, 2025.
¹⁴ Ibid.
¹⁵ "Florida woman charged with murder for killing both her ex-husbands on same day," The Post Millennial, December 20, 2025.
¹⁶ Ibid.
¹⁷ "Florida: Domestic Violence," StatPearls, National Center for Biotechnology Information, November 25, 2024.
