Report offers details into Ocala murder-suicide

OCALA, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - FOX 35 has obtained a 65-page report that details what investigators say happened leading up to a murder-suicide in Ocala.  Some of the details in the report are disturbing.  

On Thursday, May 12, the scene was intense.  Marion County sheriff's deputies and a bomb squad surrounded a home in the On Top of the World subdivision. Deputies say Clifton Erhardt, 51, shot and killed June Jackson, 60.  He then took his own life.

"I've known her since she was 10,” Jim Jackson, June’s ex-husband said. “She was a fabulous mom. Good to the three kids that we had together.  Probably the hardest worker that I ever met."

Jim and June were married for 27 years. They stayed close, even after they called it quits.  He was stunned when he learned what happened to his ex-wife.  "I couldn't tell you how I felt," he said.

In the report, June Jackson sent a message to Erhardt that morning, saying she was going to go to the police  and she would be asking a judge for a restraining order.  The report states that a neighbor said Jackson had been trying to break off the relationship with Erhardt for the last six months.

Another neighbor told investigators that Jackson was seen going into the garage on the morning of the shooting, right before three gun shots were heard.  That neighbor then saw Jackson run out of the house and collapse in the front yard. The Sheriff's Office said three deputies tried to save her.  "It was a valiant effort for them to put their lives at risk to try to save her life," said Lauren Lettelier,  a spokesperson for the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

The Sheriff's Office hopes this violence reminds the public that there is help.  Lettelier said,  "If you feel you need help, please contact us, so it doesn't ever reach this level of violence."

Now, Jim and his children will have to live without someone they love.