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in: Florida, 1992, Murder,
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Melissa Jo Sermons

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Melissa sermons

Melissa Jo Sermons

Real Name: Melissa Jo Sermons
Nicknames: Jo, Pauline Crouse
Location: Lakeland, Florida
Date: May 3, 1992

Bio[]

Occupation: Cattlemen’s Livestock Auction Market Employee
Date of Birth: August 13, 1965
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 170 - 175 lbs.
Marital Status: Single
Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair, blue or green eyes. Jo is described as “muscular.” She has a scar under her nose and her ears are pierced. She was last seen wearing a black shirt, turquoise or burgundy pants, white or gray cowboy boots, a gray purse with two straps, a black watch, a gold-colored rope chain with a cross, and a horseshoe ring with diamonds.

Case[]

Details: Twenty-six-year-old Melissa Jo Sermons worked at the Cattlemen's Livestock Auction Market in Lakeland, Florida. She worked with horses and was involved in "rodeo culture." The market's barn manager was Earlow Costine. His thirty-one-year-old nephew, Larry, worked at the market as well. Larry took his ranching heritage seriously. He spent his entire life working with horses and cattle.
According to Earlow, Larry had been riding horses since he was two. He loved to work and do rodeos. Earlow describes him as “stout, husky, strong as a mule.” According to Earlow, Larry was not the type of person to get into trouble and tried to stay away from it. But if it came along, he knew how to take care of himself. Unbeknownst even to Earlow, Jo and Larry were romantically involved. They kept their relationship a secret because Larry had just split up with his wife, and Jo with her boyfriend.
Jo’s ex-boyfriend, forty-three-year-old Danny Wayne Cerezo, often worked at the auction market. He and Jo had lived together for about fourteen months until she ended the relationship and moved out in April 1992. By all accounts, he was not taking the breakup well. On different occasions, Earlow caught him following or watching Jo. According to Earlow, Danny was very upset at the fact that she had left his house, and he was living by himself again.
According to Jo’s mother, June Freeman, Danny followed and called Jo continuously. When Jo and her sister went to the store, he would follow them. At midnight, they would see him. They even caught him sneaking underneath their kitchen window and listening to their conversation one night. When they asked him what he was doing, he said, “Oh, I thought I heard something out here. And I was just looking.” But June believes he was eavesdropping on them.
Danny kept in contact with Jo’s family and often asked about her relationships with other men. According to witnesses, he was known to confront any man he saw speaking with Jo. On Saturday, May 2, 1992, a witness overheard Jo on the phone with Danny. She told him that she did not want to see him again and that she was now dating Larry.
That same evening, Larry and Jo were in Dade City, Florida, for the weekly rodeo. The events got underway around 10pm. They never missed the rodeo. Larry was one of the local stars, and his favorite event was team roping. That night, Jo stuck by his side, right up to the minute he and his partner were called into the box. Larry and his partner won the team roping event and split a $350 prize.
The rodeo finished late that night. Around 2am, Larry and Jo went to breakfast with a friend. They dropped him off at 4am. It is believed Larry and Jo arrived back at his trailer on Moore Road in Lakeland around 4:15am on Sunday. No one knows exactly what happened after that. When Jo did not come home that Sunday night, June called Earlow. For the first time, he learned of Jo and Larry’s relationship. He called Larry’s trailer, but no one answered.
The next morning, Monday, May 4, when Jo did not show up for work, Earlow and other family members called Larry’s trailer, but he did not answer. Earlow then drove to the trailer. He found Larry’s truck in the driveway and heard a radio inside the trailer. His frantic knocks at the door went unanswered. He had a feeling that something was wrong. He immediately went back home and had his wife call the Polk County Sheriff’s Department.
Earlow met with a sheriff’s deputy outside of Larry’s trailer. The deputy asked him if he had tried to go inside the trailer, but he said he had not because he was afraid. The deputy went to the door, knocked, and asked if anyone was home. When they received no response, the deputy used Earlow’s key to open the front door. When he opened the door, he and Earlow were hit by an “unreal” smell. At that point, Earlow knew that Larry was dead. He believed that they were going to find both Larry and Jo dead inside.
However, when the deputy went inside the trailer, he only found one body: Larry’s. Larry was found nude on his bedroom floor, shot four times in the head and back with his own .357-caliber revolver. His bed had not been slept in. There was no sign of a struggle, robbery, or forced entry. One of his guns was missing, but $306 was still in his wallet. The only blood found in the trailer was his. When Earlow was told that only Larry’s body was there, he immediately called Jo’s family and told them she was missing.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Department launched an all-out investigation. At first, suspicion focused on Jo’s ex-boyfriend, Danny. His ex-wife had alleged that he was abusive and once ran her off the road and assaulted her. According to Detective Bob Ore, they interviewed Danny, and he was able to give an alibi for the time when the murder occurred. His mother reportedly corroborated his alibi. Detective Ore does not believe that Danny had any involvement in this case; he has no evidence to indicate Danny was involved.
Soon, Jo herself became a suspect. But Earlow is convinced that she did not murder Larry. He believes someone watched Larry, knew Larry was at the rodeo with Jo, followed them home, or knew when they were coming home and was waiting for them. He believes it was someone who was jealous of Larry and Jo being together and spending the night together. Earlow believes that after the killer shot Larry, he took Jo at gunpoint and killed her in another location.
Detective Ore thinks that if Danny had been involved, he probably would have committed the crime in a “different situation.” Detective Ore does not think it would have happened at Larry’s trailer or that Danny would have allowed Jo and Larry to spend time there alone. Detective Ore also notes that there was no evidence that a struggle took place.
The authorities believe Jo may be the only person who could have gotten close enough to Larry to kill him without a struggle. Is it possible that something happened in the trailer that night that provoked Jo to violence? Larry’s ex-wife, Donna, thinks he could have made Jo mad. Donna says that he could make anybody mad in a split second. She claims he would “push and push” until he made someone angry.
Donna believes that Larry and Jo got into an argument and that “one thing led to another.” She says Jo could have been joking about something, but it led to something violent. She believes that Jo is alive and in hiding.
Detective Ore says that based on everything he has learned, he believes that Jo was in some way involved in Larry’s murder. He is not sure if she actually committed the murder or if she was a witness to it. But he believes she has some type of involvement with and/or knowledge about it.
Jo’s mother, June, thinks that Danny kidnapped her. She hopes Jo is alive, but she does not believe they could hold her for this long. She believes Jo is dead and has come to terms with God about it. She just wants the case to be settled. She wants to find out who did it and wants them to pay the penalty that they should pay.
Ever since the night Larry was murdered, there have been sightings of Jo at truck stops in Florida, Texas, and Kansas. One sighting took place in Wichita Falls, Texas. Other sightings have placed her in Alabama, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. The authorities believe the sightings are reliable. Earlow does not.
Earlow believes that if Jo were still alive, she would have tried to come back and see her mother and sisters by now. He does not believe anyone has actually seen her. He believes they saw someone they thought was her. In fact, one caller told police that he was certain he saw Jo in North Florida. However, when he got a closer look at the woman, he realized she was not Jo.
The authorities continue to investigate this case on the assumption that Jo is still alive. She holds a license to operate a tractor-trailer. Two witnesses claim they saw her behind the wheel of a big rig, hauling livestock in the Kansas City, Oklahoma, or Texas area. Some reports have placed her in the western United States. A reward is being offered in this case.
Suspects: The police initially suspected Jo’s ex-boyfriend, Danny Cerezo, of being involved in Larry’s murder and her disappearance. He was not happy that she had broken up with him and moved out. He had apparently been following her before the murder. He was known to confront any man he saw speaking with her. The two had spoken on the phone the night before the murder, and she told him she was dating Larry and did not want to see him again.
Danny’s ex-wife had accused him of abusing her while they were married. She had also asked for protection from him. While their divorce was being finalized, he allegedly tried to run her off the road, demanded sex from her, and assaulted her. However, charges against him were dropped after their divorce was finalized. According to the police, he had an alibi for the time of Larry’s murder.
Jo is considered a possible suspect in Larry’s murder. The authorities believe she may have been the only person who could have gotten close enough to Larry to kill him without a struggle. There have been reported sightings of her since the murder. However, neither of their families believe she is responsible.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the November 24, 1993 episode.
  • It was submitted to the show by the Polk County Sheriff’s Department.
  • It was also featured on The Trail Went Cold podcast.
  • Danny was not named during the broadcast and was referred to as “Jo’s ex-boyfriend.”
  • Some sources state that Larry and Jo’s friend last saw them at 4:30am, that Larry was shot three times, that his body was discovered at 10:30pm, and that Jo was last seen on May 4.
  • Detective Ore stated that Danny cooperated with authorities; however, June says that she was told that Danny was not cooperative.

Results: Unresolved - In July 2013, the Polk County Sheriff’s Department identified Danny as a suspect in Larry’s murder and Jo’s disappearance. He now lives in DeLand, Florida, and works as a park ranger. Investigators believe they have physical evidence that ties him to the case. The evidence came up as they followed up on new leads. They now believe that Jo was murdered shortly after she disappeared.
For several years, Danny and his brother, Joseph, reportedly were involved in trafficking cocaine from the Florida Keys to Atlanta, Georgia. Joseph was in and out of prison for several years on a variety of charges, including burglary, cocaine possession, theft, and fraud.
Shortly before his death in November 2008, Joseph reportedly confessed to his cellmate that he was involved in Larry’s murder and Jo’s disappearance. He claimed that he and Danny had seen the couple at the rodeo that night. They later drove their nephew’s car to Larry’s trailer. Joseph held a gun on the couple while Danny shot Larry with Larry’s own gun. He also claimed that Jo was buried somewhere in the Green Swamp in Central Florida, near Tampa and Orlando.
In August 2014, a Polk County grand jury was convened to investigate Larry’s murder and Jo’s disappearance. They issued an indictment, alleging that Danny committed perjury during the grand jury proceedings. On August 28, he was arrested on the perjury charge. However, he has never been charged with Larry or Jo’s murders, and Jo’s body has never been found.
Sadly, Jo’s parents, James and June, and her siblings, Melanie and James, have since passed away.
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