Details Emerge in Holiday Homicide

Baron Von Duke Vercruysse was wearing a striped prison jumpsuit Wednesday when he answered a judge’s questions in a croaking voice.

Vercruysse, 23, had been arrested the day before and accused of killing his father, Rene' Dominique Vercruysse, 52. Rene''s body was found in a house at 5617 Mosaic Drive, Holiday, after a fire had been spotted at the house on New Year's Eve.

Baron Von Duke was charged with first degree murder and arson.

His first appearance in court was scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 2, but he didn’t set foot in the courtroom. He appeared instead on a flat screen via video feed from the Land O’ Lakes Jail.

Sixth Circuit Judge W. Lowell Bray questioned him about whether he was employed  or recieved any type of pay and if he owned anything worth more than $500.  Baron Von Duke said he made about "two grand a month" and had a car worth "two grand."

When asked if he had other possssions worth more than $500, Vercruysse responded: “That’s it."

Vercruysse was given no bond for the murder charge. His bond was set at $150,000 for the arson charge. He was given a public defender.

The crime is still under investigation, but some details have come to light.

Authorities responded to a fire at  the house at 5617 Mosaic Drive on New Year's Eve and discovered a man’s body inside a bedroom, according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. The body was that of Rene' Dominique Vercruysse.

A medical examiner's autopsy revealed the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the man’s head, and the manner of death was “homicidal violence,” according to a Pasco detective’s arrest report. 

Detectives began searching for Baron Von Duke Vercruysse Tuesday and found him in the Holiday Lake Estates subdivision, where they arrested him.

The report says Baron Von Duke told deputies that he had gotten into an argument with his father in the home in the Forest Hills subdivision about the cleanliness of Baron Von Duke’s bedroom. It turned into an altercation, which took place in the master bathroom, said sheriff’s office spokesman Doug Tobin.

Baron Von Duke told deputies he at one point grabbed his father’s legs and forced him backward onto the ground, and that caused injury to the back of the father’s head.

Baron Von Duke dragged his father from the master bathroom to the master bedroom and left him near the bed, according to the arrest report. Baron Von Duke got gasoline from the garage. He poured it on his father and the bed and used a lighter to ignite the gas, according to the arrest report.

He left the house and burnt evidence elsewhere, the report said.

He remained in jail Wednesday.

This isn’t the first time Baron Von Duke has been arrested. He was arrested on a DUI charge in 2008. He was charged at least twice in 2009 with violating probation. He was also arrested on a charge of grand theft in July 2012.