A Sharpes-area man has been indicted for the 2023 shooting death of a family acquaintance and landlord in a dispute over money, a case that went cold for years.

The Brevard County Grand Jury indicted TAVERY U. HOUSTON, 19, on April 28 on one count of first-degree premeditated murder and one count of burglary of a dwelling for shooting Franklin Orwig, 58, in the victim’s home the night of  Aug. 11, 2023.

A neighbor who heard shots that evening called 911 and reported seeing a masked man run from the property on Burgess Avenue. Orwig was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

Starting with an anonymous tip in 2024, Brevard County Sheriff’s investigators identified the prime suspect as a young man known as “Cookie” – Tavery Houston’s nickname among friends and family.

Further investigation led sheriff’s agents to locate Houston at a mobile home west of Cocoa in April and bring him in for questioning.  Houston confessed to shooting Orwig, telling agents he did so because Orwig had threatened to kill him for spending his mother’s rent money, which she owed to Orwig.

Houston’s arraignment was scheduled for April 30.