A Florida woman is accused of killing two of her former husbands in separate shootings on the same day, including one attack in which investigators say she used stolen Panera Bread food to get close to her victim.
According to Florida news outlet WWSB, police arrested 48-year-old Susan Erica Avalon on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, on separate homicide charges after authorities in Manatee and Hillsborough counties linked her to both deaths. Investigators allege the shootings were targeted and premeditated.
The Panera Bread incident
According to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, Avalon first struck that afternoon at a home in Bradenton, Florida, near Tampa. Surveillance video from a nearby Panera Bread shows Avalon taking a bag of food from a pickup shelf without paying and leaving the restaurant. Detectives say she then drove to the home of her ex-husband, carrying the food as a pretext to gain entry.
When the man opened the door around 3 p.m., Avalon allegedly shot him multiple times. He was transported to a hospital, where he later died. A teenage child was inside the home at the time of the shooting, according to deputies.
During the investigation, detectives learned Avalon and the victim had divorced more than a decade earlier and shared a child. Court records show Avalon owed several thousand dollars in unpaid child support, a detail investigators cited as a potential motive.
When asked about her ex, Avalon said, “Which one?”
Authorities utilized license plate readers to monitor Avalon’s silver Honda Odyssey as she fled the Bradenton area. By the time Citrus County deputies tracked her to her home, they reportedly caught her in the middle of sanitizing the van with bleach, an act detectives interpreted as an attempt to scrub the vehicle of forensic evidence.
While being questioned, Avalon allegedly asked detectives, “Which one?” when told they were there about her ex-husband, prompting investigators to check on another one of Avalon’s former spouses.
That second welfare check led Tampa police to a home on Frierson Avenue in the city, where Avalon’s other ex-husband was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds. Authorities said there were signs of forced entry at the residence. Investigators believe the killing occurred earlier the same day and was connected to the Bradenton shooting.
According to court documents obtained by Law & Crime, Avalon had been scouting the location of at least one ex-husband in the days leading up to the shootings. Her boyfriend told detectives that she seemed to be bracing for a confrontation, having told him the day before the incident that she loved him, just in case she didn’t see him again.
Authorities took Avalon into custody without incident and booked her into jail. Manatee County prosecutors initially filed second-degree murder charges but have said they intend to seek upgraded first-degree murder charges. Hillsborough County authorities are continuing to build their case related to the second killing.
Court records show Avalon has a history of prior arrests related to domestic and custody disputes in multiple states, though several past charges were later dismissed. Authorities have not ruled out additional charges as the investigation continues.
