Boyett's Grove Suspect Back In Town

The only named suspect in the Boyett's Grove shooting of 2007 is back in town.

Elijah Montgomery, 24, was booked into the county jail Thursday on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and armed robbery, records show.

When his arrest warrant was issued January 2008, he was already serving time at the Orange County Jail in Orlando for unrelated charges. With that sentence complete, Montgomery was transferred to Hernando County to stand trial for this new case.

The charges stem from April 2007, when three men stormed into the rural tourist shop on Spring Lake Highway. Montgomery grabbed proprietor Kathy Oleson by the hair and dragged her around the business demanding money, according to investigators.

As he destroyed phones inside the store, Montgomery came across Oleson's husband, Jim, and "immediately and without warning" shot him in the chest, investigators say.

The suspect and his accomplices fled the store, leaving Oleson, 60, bleeding heavily onto the tiled floor. Oleson spent two months in the intensive care unit, but eventually recovered from his traumatic injury.

Montgomery was tied to the shooting seven weeks later when he dropped a gun and his driver's license during a foot chase from Orlando police. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement linked the gun to a bullet casing recovered from the shop at Boyett's Grove.

In December 2007, the Olesons drove to Orlando and picked Montgomery out of a live lineup at the jail. The arrest warrant followed a month later.

Still at large are the two other suspects, who wore "scary" Halloween masks during the robbery. Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at 352-754-6830.