Florida man charged with killing former Edina couple

As Steven and Michelle Andrews were eulogized at a memorial service in Coon Rapids on Wednesday afternoon, investigators in Fort Myers, Fla., announced that they arrested and charged a suspect in the slayings of the former Edina couple, who were found dead in their house Dec. 27.

The suspect, Fred Dewitt Cooper Jr., 27, of Bonita Springs, Fla., was charged with two counts of first-degree murder after DNA evidence found at the Andrewses' house linked him to the crime.

The case has attracted national media attention, and friends and family members have anxiously awaited news of what happened to the couple.

Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott said Steven Andrews had had a "relationship" with a female co-worker at Outside Productions, where Andrews was a landscape architect. The woman was Cooper's live-in girlfriend and mother of his 5-year-old daughter.

Authorities would not go into detail Wednesday about the relationship between Andrews and the woman.

The mystery unfolds

Steven and Michelle Andrews, both 28, moved from Edina to Fort Myers in August 2004.

While Steven worked for Outside Productions in Bonita Springs, Michelle worked as a nutritionist for Manor Care Health Services in Fort Myers.

They lived in the gated Cypress Pointe neighborhood of Gateway in southeast Lee County.

About 6 a.m. on Dec. 27, 911 operators received a call from the Andrewses' house. No one said anything, but deputies were dispatched. When they arrived, the Andrewses' 2-year-old son, Luke, had the phone in his hand and blood on his socks.

The boy was unharmed. His parents were dead.

Authorities have not said how or exactly when they were killed.

Vaughn said police also were investigating whether Michelle Andrews was sexually assaulted before the killer left the house.

After the initial investigation, authorities announced that they had identified a prime suspect but were not willing to divulge any information because they didn't want to compromise the investigation.

They also were awaiting results on DNA evidence that was sent to a private crime lab in Ohio.

Dean Harris, who lived next door to the couple, said residents of the gated community installed alarm systems after news of the crime spread.

Harris, 47, who is from New York, said he didn't believe he was in any danger because police said the slayings weren't a random crime.

He said he was upset, however, that someone could kill two people over an affair.

Cooper was a motorcycle mechanic for Sun Sport Motors in Fort Myers, according to the Naples Daily News.

Harris said police had asked him in late December whether he'd heard a motorcycle the night before the Andrewses' bodies were discovered. At the time, he said, "no."

But Wednesday, Harris said he recalled hearing a motor running the Monday night before the couple was found.

"I did hear a motorcycle that night," he said. "I heard it start up and speed off."

Harris also said he saw a man pacing back and forth outside of the gate near the Andrewses' home, while smoking a cigarette near a motorcycle. He said he wasn't sure if the man was Cooper.

Authorities knew of Cooper

Cooper was not unknown to authorities. He had his first run-in with the law in 1993 when at age 15, he was charged for driving without a license, obstructing justice and theft.

At 16, he was charged with burglary. In 1996, when he was 18, he was sent to prison and served three years for burglary.

He had not been charged with any major offenses until Wednesday.

Harris reflected on the irony of his last conversation with Steven Andrews the day before police found the couple's bodies. Andrews was loading a surfboard into his car and Harris asked him where he was headed.

Harris said Andrews replied: "I'm going to get in my last surf."

Myron P. Medcalf • 612-673-4092