A Fort Pierce man has been charged with first-degree murder following the discovery of his ex-girlfriend's body along a road in Brevard County, Florida. Travion Dean, 22, was arrested last Thursday as he returned to the U.S. from a trip to Jamaica, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office reported. The victim, 20-year-old Aniya Sheppard, was found dead with a gunshot wound near Eber Boulevard and Buddy Drive early last Saturday, according to WPTV.
Dean and Sheppard were known to be in a previous romantic relationship and, on the night of the incident, they had shared a room at the Extended Stay America motel on US Route 192 in West Melbourne. After leaving the motel together, the couple had been dropped off by a ride-share service in the area where Sheppard's body was later discovered. Surveillance video obtained during the investigation confirmed the two were together near the time of Sheppard's death. At the same time, evidence placed Dean leaving the motel with what appeared to be the victim’s personal belongings, reported by the CBS12 News.
Further details revealed that following the incident, Dean used a ride-share service to return to the motel. There, Detectives say he was allegedly seen leaving with some of Sheppard's personal items. The Brevard County Sheriff's Office explained that a combination of surveillance videos, social media posts by the victim, and Dean's activities that night, including audio from a video where gunshots were heard, helped to establish a timeline of events. In an effort to mislead the investigation, Dean allegedly used Sheppard's Instagram account after the shooting to send a message to her sister, attempting to lay blame on another individual, as stated by WPTV.
Aniya Sheppard, remembered by her mother, Katina Sheppard, as having a "beautiful heart," was a sister to four siblings. "The pain to hearing that, no matter how it's given to you, is indescribable, and to know that my child was left on the side of the road, it made me hurt even worse because she didn’t deserve that," Katina Sheppard said in a statement obtained by CBS12 News. Following the tragic incident, local advocates have spoken out about domestic violence, highlighting the history of Sheppard's and Dean’s relationship, which family described as ‘toxic’ and ‘violent.’ The Director of Programs at SafeSpace Florida, Melanie Afanador, prompted the community to reassess their approach to domestic violence and the preventability of such tragedies.
SafeSpace Florida, an emergency shelter, and advocacy group, aided nearly 900 victims of domestic abuse last year alone. "When you hear the word toxic, you think of unhealthy things that can happen. When unhealthy things are happening in a relationship, it starting to impact somebody’s mental well-being. Their physical safety. Their financial safety. Their emotional safety. That’s abuse," Afanador told CBS12 News. She emphasized the need for ongoing dialogue and action to prevent domestic violence and to promote change in the behavior of abusive partners.
Anyone with more information about this case should contact Agent Kevin Morris of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit at 321-633-8413. For those experiencing abuse, the National Domestic Violence 24/7 Hotline is available at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), as well as the SafeSpaceFL 24/7 Hotline at 772-288-7023.
