Palm Harbor Suspect Just ‘Wanted to Kill Someone,’ Police Say

Clearwater Police think they've solved a murder mystery involving a man who was found shot to death on a Clearwater golf course last month. Police say a Palm Harbor resident is the trigger-man.

Detectives say Micheal McKinney wanted to kill someone and Casey Garber was the perfect victim.

Garber's body was found in a remote area of the Countryside Executive Golf Course on June 27 by a woman was out walking her dog. Clearwater Police then asked for the solving the crime.

Today, police announced an arrest in the case, along with detectives' description of what may have happened to Garber.

Investigators think McKinney and Garber were acquaintances. The pair are described as being associates in the prescription drug trade.

Clearwater Police spokeswoman Elizabeth Watts says the men attended a wedding reception June 25 and then went to the golf course, which is near the old Dogwater Cafe on Countryside Boulevard.

At some point that evening, police say, McKinney, 37, shot Garber, 40, multiple times in the upper body. 

“The only motive the detectives were able to get was that he wanted to kill someone,” Watts said, “for whatever reason that was. It was just the fact that he wanted to commit a murder, and he felt the victim was a good target.”

McKinney was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
He has previous arrests related to prescription pills and driving without a license, according to Pinellas County Sheriff’s records. 

McKinney is being held in the Pinellas County Jail. In addition to the murder charge, he faces five charges including possession of oxycodone, loitering and prowling, criminal mischief, possession of burglary tools, and burglary of an occupied dwelling.