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Slaying scene strewn in trash

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By LISA A. DAVIS

ldavis@tampatrib.com

Published: November 6, 2009

HUDSON - A grassy winding road runs off Oak Drive and leads to a faded yellow shack tucked in the woods that few would want to call home.

But it was here that David P. Cutshaw lived off and on throughout the years and, according to those who knew him, he wouldn't have had it any other way.

Cutshaw's body was found on the ground outside the small building late Tuesday. Although Pasco sheriff's detectives won't say exactly what killed him, an autopsy performed Wednesday at the medical examiner's office determined the 66-year-old died from "homicidal violence."

Sometime after dark Tuesday, Amy Reyburn, 38, drove up the road behind her mobile home at 10027 Oak Drive to bring Cutshaw some medicine.

"We check on him periodically. He's been very sick," her husband Donald Reyburn, 43, said Wednesday.

When Amy Reyburn came back less than 10 minutes later, though, she was startled, he said.

"She came back in ghost white," he recalled. "She said, 'Babe, he's dead.' I said, 'What do you mean he's dead?' 'He's dead and his head is bleeding.'"

She called 911 and that's when the investigation began.

About noon Wednesday, a fire pit in front of the shack still smoldered. A shovel rested on rocks surrounding the ashes. Nearby was what appeared to be a burned-out bus or RV, a boat, a broken bicycle and other abandoned vehicles.

The front door of the shack was wide open. The inside was filthy, littered with dirt, bugs and little cigar butts. It reeked of urine. In the main room, a dirty bed was pushed against the wall and a pair of cowboy boots and a red and white Igloo cooler were set among the debris and grime. One room was stuffed from ceiling to floor - mostly with old carpets.

Back outside, a shed with only three walls looked like it had seen more activity recently. A soiled pillow and comforter were tucked into a corner. A bag of hamburger buns, a Thermos, a jug of water and a can of Pringles were set inside. So was deodorant, car seats and Gatorade.

Bill Tamasy owns the 2-acre property where Cutshaw's body was found. Some years ago, he said, he gave Cutshaw permission to live in the shack that housed an office when he owned the adjacent metal salvage yard.

He said he met Cutshaw about 30 years ago when he started buying junk cars from him. Cutshaw had been married and has at least one son, who is in prison. For many years Cutshaw lived in the woods in west Pasco County, Tamasy said, but he didn't have to be homeless.

"He just didn't want responsibilities. He said in the woods he didn't have any," Tamasy recalled.
Cutshaw lived off his Social Security check, acquaintances said, which mostly went to beer.

Pit Patel works as a clerk at the A-1 Discount Beverage store on Hicks Road, not far from the shack in the woods.

Each day, Cutshaw would go in alone and purchase Natural Ice beer in a four-pack, "sometimes one; sometimes two," and a pack of Remington Little Cigars, Patel said.
Cutshaw made his last trip to the store between 4 and 5 p.m. Tuesday, he said.

Hours after deputies and forensic investigators converged on the shack in the woods, there seemed to be no hint of what had happened the night before except for some stickers on the stairs that perhaps marked where evidence once lay.

Under the shack's stairs, empty cans of Natural Ice were strewn about.

There was no crime-scene tape, no latex gloves and no Cutshaw. Just a single folding chair sat empty next to the stairs.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083.

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