A Florida therapist who specializes in anger management has been charged with murder in connection with the death of a man whose body was found in the therapist’s car.
Travis McBride, 46, was charged Jan. 19 with first-degree, premeditated murder in the death of Clinton Dorset, 51, according to WESH-TV in Daytona Beach.
The killing was first reported on the morning of Jan. 18.
“There’s been a murder that happened,” a caller to 911 told a dispatcher, according to WESH. “We got a couple of eyewitnesses, and I believe — the person right now he’s looking at the road, cleaning up the blood off the ground.”
The website Law and Crime said a DeLand police affidavit quoted a woman identified as “W1,” who said McBride allegedly accused Dorsey — who is thought to be homeless — of doing something to harm dogs owned by the suspect.
The affidavit outlined what the witness said she saw. An affidavit is an allegation that remains unproven before a trial.
“W1 stated that she saw (McBride) with a gun in his hand shooting, (Dorsey). W1 said she heard approximately eight to nine shots being fired. W1 stated she heard the gunshots and then saw the light on the gun. W1 noted that (McBride) was pointing the gun down at the body,” the affidavit stated.
“W1 stated she saw (McBride) drag the body across the street toward a wooded area. W1 said she did not observe any other person(s) drag the body into the woods across the street in the area when (McBride) shot (Dorsey). W1 noted that she was 100% sure that (McBride) shot (Dorsey). W1 stated she feared (McBride) because he was aggressive with his gun,” the affidavit stated.
#Florida therapist arrested with a dead body in his car was the subject of a string of criminal cases dating back to 1995 for violent behavior in Volusia County that were reduced or dropped altogether. https://t.co/NCrEJW9myI via @bcarillo06 & @sheldonrgardner
— Craig Pittman (@craigtimes) January 22, 2024
A police report obtained by the Daytona Beach News-Journal said a witness “observed Travis point a gun downwards towards Dorsey, saw the attached light on the weapon turn on and further illuminate Dorsey, and fire several more shots at close range.”
Police said that after responding to the scene of the incident on Jan. 18, they saw what they believed to be a dead body in the back seat of McBride’s 2016 red Nissan Versa.
One officer “opened the rear hatch trunk door [which was unlocked] in [an] attempt to render aid to the individual,” the report stated.
What “initially came in as a suspicious incident quickly evolved into a homicide investigation,” DeLand Police Chief Jason Umberger said during a news conference Friday, according to the News-Journal.
Would you come forward if you witnessed a murder?
“Preliminarily, we believe there was an ongoing dispute between [McBride] and our victim,” he said. “I don’t know if they knew each other, but they knew of each other.”
According to the News-Journal, McBride has a police record dating back to 1995, in which a charge of felony aggravated battery was resolved after McBride completed a deferred prosecution agreement.
A 1996 felony aggravated battery charge against him was disposed of in the same fashion.
In 2017, McBride was arrested on a domestic battery by strangulation charge after his wife said McBride was upset after she took one of his dogs outside.
The case was resolved by a deferred prosecution agreement that required no violent contact with the victim, counseling and fines.
McBride is a licensed Florida mental health counselor and owns Starting Point Mental Health LLC in DeLand, which has been operating since 2009.
