Suspect in Five Student Killings Gets Prison Term

A teen-ager identified as a suspect in the slayings of five Gainesville college students was sentenced Thursday to 22 months in a prison mental hospital for beating his elderly grandmother.

Edward Lewis Humphrey, 19, who has a history of mental problems, also faces an assault charge in Gainesville and a 1988 attempted rape and burglary case in Indian River County.

Humphrey has not been charged in the slayings of the five students, some of whom were mutilated, near the University of Florida campus in Gainesville during August.

He had been in jail in lieu of $1-million bond since the beating Aug. 30 at his home in Indialantic.

Humphrey’s grandmother, Elna Hlavaty, told a deputy that night that her grandson had beaten and choked her. But, at the trial, she testified that she had fallen and hurt herself in the dark.

Humphrey’s family reacted angrily to the sentence, with his 79-year-old grandmother calling it a “charade of justice.”

Edward Humphrey nodded when his grandmother blew him a kiss as he entered the courtroom but generally appeared oblivious to the proceedings.

The judge also placed Humphrey on probation for 14 months after his prison term ends, with the condition that he continue psychiatric treatment, if needed.