Deputies say roommate murdered over PlayStation

MAITLAND, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Investigators with Seminole County Sheriff's Office continue to gather evidence in the death of a Maitland man, believed to have been murdered over a stolen PlayStation. 

Detectives on Tuesday were attempting to identify the body of the victim, in what the sheriff is calling one of the most bizarre and gruesome homicides he’s seen.

Seminole County sheriff's deputies were on foot and above ground, doing whatever they could early Tuesday morning to take down Jake Bilotta.

“Do you have a visual? They're walking towards you,” a helicopter pilot could be heard saying to deputies in a recording. 

Bilotta, 22, and his roommate, Ian McClurg, 21, are now behind bars after authorities say they stabbed their former roommate to death. It happened late Monday night on South Boulevard in Maitland.

The Seminole County Sheriff's Office says Bilotta and McClurg evicted the victim several weeks ago and believed he broke back into their home and stole a PlayStation 4. Investigators say they lured him back to the home to kill him for revenge over the PlayStation.  One neighbor told FOX 35 that Bilotta was a nice guy who threw a Halloween party last month.

“Really shocked, because I just didn't expect that at all. I'm really speechless,” said neighbor Zia Sanchez.

The plan was interrupted by their new roommate, Walter Johnson, who stopped back home in the middle of a date and found his roommates with a seven-inch chef’s knife, bagging the body. According to a report, Johnson told authorities Bilotta said he gave the victim credit, because he “put up a good fight.”

“Things that have little value, definitely no association with the value of human life. it is absolutely bizarre,” said Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma.

Authorities say the roommate ran out and called police. They don’t believe he knew anything about Bilotta and McClurg’s plans. 

Bilotta tried to make a run for it. McClurg holed himself up in the bathroom. Now, both are in custody, locked up in Seminole County.

“It's stupid. It's like what's the point. what's even the point. They deserve it. They deserve as much time as they give them,” said Sanchez.

Authorities are still trying to identify the victim. Both suspects are being charged with first-degree murder.