Palm Bay, FL -- Colie Lee Daniel, 28, of Indialantic was a registered sex offender under Florida law. His 2018 conviction was for lewd or lascivious battery on a victim between 12 and 15 years old. When he was convicted, Lucas Sander Jones, the 19-year-old now charged in connection with his death, was 12 years old. Both men were from Indialantic. On March 28, 2026, Daniel’s remains were found inside two suitcases in The Compound, Palm Bay’s sprawling 2,784-acre undeveloped area. Jones was arrested the same day.
No murder charge has been filed. The investigation is ongoing.
Who Colie Lee Daniel Was
Colie Lee Daniel, born December 31, 1997, was listed on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Sexual Offender and Predator registry under FDLE ID 105395. His designation was Sexual Offender under Florida Statute 943.0435. His last registered address was 2140 N Shannon Ave, Indialantic, FL 32903.
His qualifying conviction, case number 1716544 in Brevard County, was adjudicated October 29, 2018: Lewd or Lascivious Battery with a Victim 12-15 Years of Age, under Florida Statute 800.04(4)(a)(1). He entered a guilty plea. In January 2021, he was charged again, this time with failing to notify the Brevard County Sheriff as required under his registration obligations. He pleaded guilty to that charge as well, adjudicated March 30, 2021, case number 2111416.
At the time of his death, Daniel was 28 years old. He was 5’7”, 130 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He drove a white 2023 Hyundai Elantra sedan, registered on the FDLE registry. He was alive and active in the civil court system as recently as September 2025, when he was listed as plaintiff in a small claims auto negligence case. His mother reported him missing on March 22, 2026.
The Discovery
On March 28, 2026, at approximately 10:50 a.m., Palm Bay Police received a report of vultures circling an abandoned suitcase near 1574 Bombardier Boulevard, inside the area known as The Compound. Officers located two suitcases in the tall grass. Both contained human remains.
Inside the first suitcase, investigators found an Amazon package. It was addressed to Lucas Sander Jones, 19, of 420 Watson Drive, Indialantic. That address is approximately 19 miles from The Compound. That evening, detectives went to the Watson Drive home with a search warrant.
What they found there closed the evidentiary loop. Blood stains were present in multiple locations inside the residence. A kitchen knife at the home matched the type of knife found in the suitcases. Jones himself had visible wounds and bruises. He refused to participate in an interview. Mishai Burrows, Jones’s girlfriend, was also present at the home during the search warrant execution.
The Arrest
Lucas Sander Jones, date of birth September 29, 2006, was arrested March 28, 2026. Palm Bay Police Department charged him. The Brevard County Clerk’s case number is 05-2026-CF-023412-AXXX-BC, filed March 29, 2026. Judge Kelly Jo McKibben was assigned. Arraignment is scheduled for April 21, 2026, at 8:00 a.m. at the Moore Justice Center before Judge Jonathan Skinner.
Jones faces three counts, all with an offense date of March 21, 2026, the day investigators believe the body was transported. Count 1: Tampering or Fabricating Physical Evidence, Florida Statute 918.13, a third-degree felony carrying up to five years in state prison. Count 2: Abuse of a Dead Human Body, Florida Statute 872.06(2), a second-degree felony carrying up to 15 years. Count 3: Transport of Human Body in Unauthorized Container, Florida Statute 497.386(3), a first-degree misdemeanor carrying up to one year in county jail.
Total maximum exposure on current charges: 20 years and one year. No murder charge has been filed. Prosecutors typically wait for a medical examiner’s determination of cause of death before charging homicide. The ME’s findings have not been publicly released.
Jones was born September 29, 2006. He was 12 years old when Daniel was convicted of lewd and lascivious battery on a child. Both lived in Indialantic at the time of Daniel’s conviction. That timeline is a matter of public record.
The Timeline
The events the arrest affidavit describes begin the evening of March 20.
Mishai Burrows, Jones’s girlfriend, was at the Watson Drive home on March 20. She saw Daniel lying on Jones’s bed, appearing asleep or unconscious. Jones made attempts to wake him. Burrows told investigators she never saw Daniel stand up or regain consciousness. She left the room briefly. When she returned, Daniel was gone. Jones told her Daniel had left through the back door.
On March 21, Jones asked Burrows to drive him to The Compound. She drove him in her red Honda Accord. Jones removed two gray containers from the car and placed them in separate locations at the site. Police later recovered the remains in suitcases. He made two trips that day. FLOCK camera data, the license plate reader network that operates on Brevard County roadways, confirmed the vehicle at The Compound twice on March 21. Burrows’s account was corroborated by the camera data.
On March 22, Daniel’s mother reported him missing to the Indialantic Police Department. The case was entered into the Florida Crime Information Center and the National Crime Information Center. On March 28, vultures led police to the suitcases. That same evening, Jones’s Amazon package inside the first suitcase led police to his door.
Remains were formally identified as Daniel on March 30, 2026.
The Bond
Judge George T. Paulk set bond at Jones’s initial appearance on March 29. Brevard County Sheriff booking records show $2,500 cash or surety on Count 1 (tampering with evidence), $5,000 cash or surety on Count 2 (abuse of a dead body), and release on own recognizance on Count 3 (transport of human body). Total bond: $7,500. Jones posted and was released the same day he was booked.
One reported condition: Jones was ordered not to return to The Compound. His arraignment is April 21, 2026. The question of whether a murder charge will be added before or at that date will depend on the medical examiner’s findings.
Unanswered Questions
The public record establishes the evidence chain connecting Jones to Daniel’s remains. It does not explain the most significant fact in the case.
Jones was 19. Daniel was 28. Daniel was a registered sex offender whose qualifying conviction involved a child victim aged 12 to 15. Jones was 9 to 10 years old during the period of Daniel’s original offense and 12 at the time of conviction. Both were from Indialantic. Daniel was found on Jones’s bed in Jones’s bedroom. The affidavit describes Daniel as a “friend.”
How that friendship formed has not been explained by police, prosecutors, or Jones’s attorney, who had not yet been assigned as of March 30.
Other open questions from the public record: What caused Daniel’s death? Were Jones’s visible wounds defensive, or from something else? What was in the second suitcase? What role, if any, does Mishai Burrows have beyond witness? Burrows has no significant criminal history. Her BECA record shows two minor tobacco infractions and two paid speeding tickets. She has not been charged.
The offense date on all three counts is March 21. That is the date Jones disposed of the remains. It is not a death date. The medical examiner has not publicly released a cause or manner of death. Until that determination is made, the full picture of what happened at 420 Watson Drive on or before March 20, 2026, remains incomplete.
The Compound’s History
This is not the first body found at The Compound. It may not be the second.
The Compound is a 2,784-acre undeveloped area in southwestern Palm Bay. The city’s own website states: “The Compound Is Not A Recreation Area.” It is former General Development Corporation land, comprising Port Malabar Units 51, 52, and 53, with approximately 4,978 parcels and 2,755 unique private property owners. The city does not own it.
The Palm Bayer has covered The Compound for three years. The record is grim. On December 25, 2022, Jeremiah Brown, 14, and Travon Anthony Jr., 16, were found shot multiple times. Two men were arrested and charged with that double homicide. In September 2023, Nicholas Mitchell, 30, was found shot and dumped there. A couple was arrested in that case. In March 2023, human remains were identified as Nancy Howery, 44. Daniel Stearns was arrested in connection with that case and convicted of second-degree murder in October 2025.
In February 2026, less than six weeks before Daniel’s remains were found, Palm Bay Police responded to a separate missing person investigation near Santo Domingo Avenue. Detectives executed a search warrant on a Turk Road home. Remains found during that investigation were eventually identified as a Satellite Beach woman. That case is a separate active investigation.
Two sets of human remains. Two separate cases. Six weeks apart. Both at The Compound.
In April 2025, eleven months before Daniel’s remains were discovered, the Palm Bay City Council voted to accept a remediation plan for The Compound. That vote came after years of workshops, community presentations, and two separate federal grant awards totaling $1.6 million for environmental assessment and brownfields work. The plan exists. The funding is in place. The Compound keeps producing crime scenes.
The Palm Bayer has published 13 articles on The Compound since March 2023. Links to prior coverage available at ThePalmBayer.com.
What Comes Next
Jones’s arraignment is April 21, 2026. Whether he enters a plea, whether a public defender or private attorney appears, and whether the State Attorney’s Office upgrades the charges to murder before that date are all open questions.
The medical examiner’s determination of cause of death is the pivotal next step. If the ME finds homicide, expect a murder charge. Florida prosecutors routinely file evidence-tampering and body-disposal charges first, then add homicide when the pathology confirms it. If the manner of death is ruled undetermined, the case becomes significantly more complicated.
The nature of Jones’s relationship with Colie Lee Daniel, a convicted sex offender whose victim was a child the same age Jones would have been, has not been addressed publicly by police or prosecutors.
The case is being investigated by Palm Bay Police Department. Anyone with information is asked to contact PBPD.
Sources
BECA (Brevard Electronic Court Application), Case 05-2026-CF-023412-AXXX-BC: vmatrix1.brevardclerk.us
BECA, criminal history search: Colie Lee Daniel, Lucas Sander Jones, Mishai Burrows
FDLE Sexual Offender and Predator Registry, FDLE ID 105395 (Colie Lee Daniel): offender.fdle.state.fl.us
NamUs Missing Person #MP156909 (Colie Lee Daniel): namus.nij.ojp.gov
Palm Bay Police Department, arrest affidavit (4 pages, BECA case record)
Space Coast Rocket: Missing Indialantic Man: Colie Daniel; Arrest in Palm Bay
Space Coast Daily: Human Remains Found in Suitcases at The Compound, 19-Year-Old Arrested
Palm Bay city website, The Compound overview: palmbayfl.gov
The Palm Bayer, 13 prior Compound articles (2023-2025): ThePalmBayer.com
