FORT PIERCE — A jury convicted former police officer and firefighter Otto Lenke of first-degree murder and first-degree arson Friday in the 2021 slaying of a Fort Pierce motorcycle repair shop owner, a brutal killing captured on surveillance video that prosecutors said showed the victim shot and then set ablaze.
The St. Lucie County panel deliberated less than three hours before returning the verdicts shortly after 12:53 p.m., according to court officials. Lenke, 66, of Sebastian, displayed no discernible reaction as the clerk read the findings aloud. Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty in a penalty phase planned to begin on May 18.
Authorities identified the victim as 57-year-old Richard Benson, who owned Fast Frank’s Custom Cycle Components.
Investigators say Lenke walked into the business, fired three shots at Benson, then poured a flammable liquid and set him on fire. Testimony and closing arguments described the sequence as a deliberate effort to cause the greatest possible fear and pain.
Surveillance video shown to jurors Thursday proved to be the turning point. Prosecutors called the disturbing footage undeniable proof, showing a helmeted attacker carrying out the assault inside the shop. In his closing argument, Assistant State Attorney Brandon White told the panel to use common sense and reach a guilty verdict based on the weight of all the evidence.
Prosecutors said the motive was a romantic grudge: Benson had been dating a woman previously involved with Lenke, and Assistant State Attorney Brandon White told jurors that Lenke “had been replaced” and killed out of jealousy.
“The fact that (Lenke) had the motive, the fact that he had the gun and he threw it from the Wabasso Bridge, the fact that his car was used,” White added, “all of that points to one thing and rips that cloak of innocence off.”
Investigators could not definitively link the gun to the slaying of Richard Benson because it had been cut up, Assistant State Attorney Brandon White said, though it was the same caliber and was recovered by divers after Lenke’s cellphone was tracked to the same location just hours after the murder.
Defense attorney Valerie Masters argued that prosecutors failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, stressing that Lenke remains presumed innocent.
Lenke did not testify. He had earlier told detectives he was not in Fort Pierce the day of the killing and said he did not know Benson.
A former Melbourne police officer who also served as an Indian River County firefighter, Lenke could face life in prison without parole or the death penalty, depending on the jury’s recommendation and the judge’s final ruling.
This conviction concludes an extended legal process stemming from the February 2021 incident that shocked the Treasure Coast motorcycle community.
