Years later, Florida daughter charged with killing father with baseball bat, knife

A Florida woman is facing murder charges more than two years after her father was killed with a baseball bat and a knife, authorities said.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Shannon Gillespie, 46, was arrested Friday on first-degree murder charges. It wasn’t immediately clear if she has a lawyer.

She is charged with killing her father, 71-year-old Daniel Gillespie, in November 2018. The Tampa Bay Times reports that Shannon Gillespie had repeatedly denied any involvement, although she did tell investigators she despised him.

Authorities say Shannon Gillespie was kicked out of the Clearwater home she shared with her father. An arrest report says she returned at night and then beat and stabbed her father to death.

Shannon Gillespie remained jailed Saturday without bond.

Daniel Gillespie wanted his daughter to leave the home, and they had a dispute that ended up in court. Two weeks before his death, a judge sided with the father.

After his death, the elder Gillespie’s other three children decided to sell the house. Just before that sale, the house was set on fire in the middle of the night. That fire is still under investigation, Gualtieri said Friday.

Even so, court records show the home did sell for $132,000 in September to investors, far less than the house would have brought before the fire.

About $102,800 of the home sale and insurance money will be distributed to the siblings and attorneys, according to court filings.