A suspect was arrested Monday after he randomly attacked and killed a golfer at a Palm Beach Gardens course, authorities said.
Junior Boucher, 36, was charged with first-degree murder for the killing of Brian Hiltebeitel, 65, at the Sandhill Crane Golf Club Monday afternoon.
Witnesses told responding officers that a yelling Boucher approached the victim while he played with two others on the first hole.
The suspect held a golf club and started swinging it toward Hiltebeitel, striking him multiple times in the head.
Hiltebeitel tried to flee toward a pond, but Boucher followed him and kept striking and choking him.
When police arrived, Hiltebeitel was dead from deep lacerations in his head. Boucher stripped off his clothes and ran away but was eventually arrested.
“At this time, it does not appear that Boucher had any legitimate purpose for being at the golf course,” Police Chief Dominick Pape said.
“This appears to be a random act of violence where Boucher used the victim’s golf clubs as weapons and viciously attacked the victim.”
Hiltebeitel was remembered as a “good, good person” who would always “wake up happy.”
“He just made us happy; he was just the best guy ever,” Hiltebeitel’s girlfriend’s mother said.
