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Land O' Lakes Man Charged With 21-Year-Old Slaying

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By BILLY TOWNSEND and LISA DAVIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 1, 2008

Updated: 02/01/2008 04:57 pm

LAKELAND - LAKELAND - LAKELAND - Budwin Brace and his wife Loma divorced just days before she was found beaten to death 21 years ago inside her Lakeland home.

Loma Brace

Suspicion quickly focused on Brace, then a successful Pasco County builder. He was later convicted of forging his wife's signature on documents surrendering ownership of property they owned in common. He served more than a year in state prison.

But neither Brace, now 64, nor anyone else was ever charged in her slaying.

That changed Thursday, when a Polk grand jury indicted Clayton FiveCoat, a 67-year-old Land O' Lakes man and acquaintance of Budwin Brace, on a first-degree murder charge. FiveCoat had also been a suspect at the time of Brace's slaying, Lakeland police said.

The indictment came 21 years to the day after detectives say Brace was killed on Feb. 1, 1987.
It accuses FiveCoat of killing Brace by striking her repeatedly "with a hammer or other blunt instrument."

Budwin Brace was also indicted, but only on a perjury charge. He's accused of lying to the same grand jury during an appearance on Jan. 24. FiveCoat is also accused of committing perjury on that date.

Lakeland police said Brace's perjury arrest is connected to his wife's murder. But they would not explain how during a terse press conference this afternoon. Lakeland police detectives said their investigation into the slaying is continuing.

It's not clear what new evidence led prosecutors to convene the grand jury in the case more than two decades after Brace's slaying. Police would say only they rounded up new testimony – both from existing players in the case and from new figures - starting in late 2005.

Neither the indictment nor detectives said what specific lies Brace and FiveCoat are accused of telling to the grand jury.

Lakeland police Detective Brad Grice said FiveCoat and Brace knew each other in the 1980s. FiveCoat worked as a mechanic and would service Brace's collection of antique cars, Grice said.

At the time of his arrest, FiveCoat, who was working as a civilian mechanic with the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, was indicted by a Polk grand jury on first-degree murder and perjury charges in Brace's slaying.

He was arrested today at the Polk County courthouse, where he had been appearing before the grand jury, and was booked into Polk County Jail.

FiveCoat has been employed by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office since 1985. He was fired today, Pasco Sheriff Bob White said.

Brace was arrested this morning at his home in Wesley Chapel and booked into Pasco County Jail, sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said. He'll have a first court appearance Saturday. Until then he's being held on $15,000 bond.

Troubled Marriage, Violent Mystery

Loma Brace, 49, was found bludgeoned to death in the bathroom of her Lakeland apartment.
At the time, police speculated that Brace opened the front door on her way of out her apartment and was bashed on the head with a hammer-like weapon. No weapon was found.

After four years of marriage, the Braces separated on April 4, 1986. Loma Brace filed for divorce seven days later.

In documents filed in July 1986 with Hillsborough County Circuit Court, she accused her husband of twice threatening to kill her and asked he be ordered to vacate their Tampa home. The judge issued the order.

In September 1986, she headed for Lakeland. On Jan. 20, 1987, two weeks before she was slain, the Braces divorced, with Loma Brace retaining joint ownership of many of their assets.

The divorce settlement dictated that an office building and lounge in Land O'Lakes and acreage, worth $4.46 million, be split between the two.

Three quit-claim deeds purportedly signed by Loma Brace on Jan. 11 were filed in Pasco County, transferring her interest in the land to Brace for a nominal sum.

Three weeks later she was slain.

Budwin Brace was arrested in August 1987 on charges he arranged forgeries of Loma Brace's signature on quit-claim deeds to the $4 million Central Pasco Professional Center, Mr. B's Package and Lounge in Land O' Lakes and 10 acres in San Antonio. Brace pleaded no-contest and was sent to state prison in 1990. He was released on Feb. 28, 1991, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

Loma Brace lived alone at the time of her killing. Her two children live out of state. A son, Whittney Matlock, lives near Washington, D.C. He said he'll feel no relief until someone is convicted of slaying his mother.

"Clay Is Very Committed"

FiveCoat's job evaluations have been consistently good while he's been at the sheriff's office. But his personnel file doesn't contain any from his first few years, including 1987, when the slaying occurred.
It's unclear whether Pasco sheriff's officials knew that he was a suspect in the case at that time.

"He works well with the general public and also with his fellow workers. Clay is very committed to the agency goal, to be the very best that we can be," his supervisor, Wayne Atkinson, wrote in March. "…He is an asset to the PSO and he demonstrates this daily in his work pattern."

According to his job application, FiveCoat dropped out of Marshall High School in Chicago after his sophomore year and became a mechanic.

"I have been a mechanic all my life. I was rebuilding carbarators (sic) at 10 yrs (sic) old, rebuilding engines by the age of 12 and building race cars by the age of 16," he wrote in January 1985. "I am now 44 and still learning."

Tobin, Pasco sheriff's office spokesman, said he saw FiveCoat recently when he took his agency vehicle into the shop in Land O' Lakes.

"I was out at the garage just a week ago and stood right next to him," Tobin said. "So it was a surprise to me."

White, the Pasco sheriff, said he'd been aware for some time that detectives were looking at FiveCoat. White said he kept everything business as usual at garage in order not to hamper the investigation.

"We have no reason to believe that he has committed any foul play in Pasco County or the sheriff's office, White said.

Still, the idea of having a civilian employee charged with first-degree murder doesn't sit well.

"Obviously, it's very disappointing," he said. "I have obviously seen him on a number of occasions.
White described FiveCoat as "cordial, respectful. Just your average guy."

News Channel 8 reporter Jennifer Leigh contributed to this report. Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409.

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