GROVELAND – A Groveland man was charged in the death of his long-time girlfriend Thursday evening after shooting her multiple times.
According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Virgil Everett Hyde, 35, confessed to shooting his girlfriend of 12 years, Bobbi Wheeler, 30. He is being accused of second-degree murder.
The Sheriff’s Office reported that Wheeler had been shot more than 7 times. According to the arrest report, Hyde shot her first with a 9mm handgun in the top of her head. He then proceeded to shoot her multiple times on her left and right shoulders as she was kneeling on the ground.
Hyde then reportedly retrieved a military style rifle and shot Wheeler a few more times ensuring her death. He then covered her body with a garbage bag and went to Wheeler’s mother’s house to report that he had harmed her daughter. The mother found her daughter’s body in the laundry room of Hyde’s mobile home located at 11100 Mattioda Road.
Hyde explained to deputies that the couple was having an argument over finances. Hyde blamed Wheeler for some discrepancies in his bank account. He told the deputies that he believed Wheeler was taking the side of a neighbor that was suing him.
One week prior to the homicide, Hyde allegedly shot the couple’s dog, Nitro, in their bedroom provoking Wheeler to move out and into her mother’s home, according to Lake County Sheriff’s spokesman, Lt. John Herrell. Wheeler only returned to the home Thursday to clean, and that’s when the argument began.
Hyde is being held at the Lake County Jail without bond.
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