News & Updates

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit and Dive Team recovered a body shortly before ten this morning during a search for a snorkeler who went missing in Destin’s East Pass Sunday evening. Effort by the OCSO Dive Team to find the 28-year old man Sunday had...

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit is searching for a missing snorkeler who disappeared Sunday evening off the Destin east jetty. Friends say the 28-year old tourist was with a group of snorkelers when they noticed he was missing during a head count...

A 13-year old Crestview resident is charged with a felony after taking part in a hoax phone call reporting he had shot his mother twice and was going to kill himself. The call came in to the Crestview Police Department’s non-emergency line around 10:30 this morning....

ARREST REPORTS Seven men who solicited what they thought was an underage girl for sex instead ended up in handcuffs when they showed up for the rendezvous and encountered Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputies instead. An eighth individual thought he was going to...

Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Sergeants Rodney Owens and Health Hehl are among the newest graduates of the Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute’s Florida Leadership Academy, Class 44. These graduates serve in first line supervisor leadership roles and met...

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is processing a site on the Air Force reservation in west Okaloosa County after a hiker found scattered skeletal remains Tuesday evening. The man was walking in an area north of Highway 98 close to the Okaloosa/Santa Rosa County...

WANGERIN ARREST REPORT The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Shalimar man after he attempted to rob the Regions Bank located at 1248 Eglin Parkway in Shalimar this morning. 30-year old Nathan Edward Wangerin, of Rocket Lane in Shalimar, entered the bank...

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fatal traffic accident that took place this morning in Destin near the intersection of Emerald Coast Parkway and Regatta Bay Boulevard. 20-year old Sean Edward Roberts of Woodstock, Georgia, was reportedly riding...

A Crestview High School student faces numerous felony charges after the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office found him in possession of a concealed firearm on school property. A School Resource Officer learned 15 year old Jabari Imani had been living in a shed behind a...

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office this afternoon arrested a Crestview High School student for possession of a firearm on school grounds. The 15-year old was detained by the School Resource Officer after information was developed that he may be in possession of a...

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fatal traffic accident that took place this morning in Destin near the intersection of Airport Road and Cedar Street. 51-year old Joel Iral of Bent Arrow Drive died after the electric scooter he was riding was...

ARREST REPORTS A group of students from Missouri who spotted two people in dark hoodies committing a car burglary in Destin passed along the information to Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputies, who were able to make two arrests. 16-year old Brennan Johnson and 18-year...

GUILLEN ARREST REPORT Okaloosa County Sheriff’s deputies conducting a welfare check Monday ended up charging a Crestview woman with DUI and three counts of child neglect. The OCSO was contacted by a man who said he was concerned about his ex-wife, 32-year old Analise...

A man charged with murdering his three year old son, then stabbing himself multiple times, has been released from the hospital and booked into the Okaloosa County Jail. 61-year old Frederick Franken had been receiving medical care at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center...

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has charged a Bluewater Bay area man with domestic violence related murder in connection with the stabbing death of his three year old son. 61-year old Frederick Franken of 1476 Rawlins Court was arrested at Fort Walton Beach...

A Destin visitor who died after falling overnight from a condominium balcony onto a pool deck has been identified as a 27-year old man from Missouri. A security guard at the condos, located at 1002 East Highway 98, discovered the body of Justin Michael Trepanier of...

A three year old Bluewater Bay child found dead in his home March 15th died as a result of multiple stab wounds. An autopsy was conducted today by the Medical Examiner’s Office. Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office investigators say Frederick Franken Jr. was discovered on...

SOWELL ARREST REPORT A man wanted by the Fort Walton Beach Police Department on charges of sexual battery and battery by strangulation was taken into custody on Okaloosa Island Friday, but not before he tried to make a getaway. The FWBPD gathered information that the...

The Medical Examiner’s Office has scheduled an autopsy for Monday in connection with the murder of a three year old Bluewater Bay area child. Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office investigators say Frederick Franken, Jr. was killed Friday at the home he shared with his...

An out-of-state visitor died after a fall from a balcony on an upper floor Destin condominium complex early this morning. The adult male’s body was discovered at 1002 East Highway 98 shortly after five a.m. The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office received a 9-1-1 call...