Deputies say the suspect confessed after the victim’s pickup truck was found in neighboring Sarasota County.
PUNTA GORDA, FL — A 48-year-old woman faces a murder charge after Charlotte County deputies said she confessed to stabbing her 76-year-old roommate during an argument at a home on Gewant Boulevard, then leaving in his pickup truck after covering his body with a tarp.
Investigators say the case moved quickly from a death call to a homicide arrest, with deputies in Charlotte County and Sarasota County tracking the victim’s missing truck and finding the suspect within hours. The arrest of Shannon Rose Giblin in the death of Paul De Wayne Bradley has left neighbors and friends in a rural Punta Gorda community struggling to understand how a dispute inside the home ended in a fatal stabbing and a charge of murder not premeditated.
Deputies were sent to the residence on the evening of March 8 after a report of a person not breathing. When they arrived, they found Bradley dead inside the home and called in the Major Crimes Unit to investigate. Detectives soon noticed that Bradley’s pickup truck was gone from the driveway, a detail that shifted attention from a medical emergency call to a possible crime scene. According to the sheriff’s office, investigators traced the truck into Sarasota County and shared that information with deputies there. Sarasota County deputies located the vehicle and detained Giblin, who was identified as Bradley’s roommate and a possible suspect. After Charlotte County detectives questioned her, authorities said, she confessed to stabbing Bradley after an argument. Sheriff Bill Prummell later praised the detectives who, he said, “worked this case through the night” and quickly identified a suspect.
Authorities have publicly identified the victim as Paul De Wayne Bradley, 76, and the suspect as Shannon Rose Giblin, 48. Investigators say Bradley was “deceased and beyond help” when deputies reached the house. The sheriff’s office has said Giblin told detectives that after the stabbing she realized Bradley could not be saved, covered him with a tarp and drove away in his pickup. She was arrested on charges of murder not premeditated and grand theft of a motor vehicle. Authorities have also said she was being held without bond. What remains unclear is the exact sequence of events inside the home before the stabbing, including what started the argument, whether anyone else was present, and how long Bradley had been dead before deputies were called. Officials also have not publicly described the weapon beyond saying Bradley was stabbed, and no court hearing details were immediately released in the first wave of public reporting.
The killing stunned residents in and around Charlotte Ranchettes, an area of large lots and homes east of Punta Gorda where neighbors say people tend to know one another and notice when something is wrong. Bradley’s death drew particular attention because friends and neighbors described him as a veteran and a steady presence in the community. In television interviews carried by local outlets, neighbors spoke of him as someone who was kind, helpful and known to people nearby. One neighbor, Jody Scharping, said Bradley had mentored her son and called his death hard to accept. Another friend, Adam LaFleur, told local reporters he had become suspicious of Giblin soon after hearing Bradley had been killed. LaFleur said Giblin had recently been staying with Bradley and described tension in the home before the killing. Those comments have not been tested in court, but they add to a picture of a household conflict that investigators say turned deadly.
The charges announced by the sheriff’s office suggest prosecutors, at least for now, are treating the case as a homicide that was not premeditated rather than a planned killing. Under Florida law, that distinction can shape how a case proceeds, what evidence becomes central and what prosecutors must prove as the court process unfolds. The grand theft count stems from deputies’ account that Giblin left in Bradley’s pickup truck and was later found with it in Sarasota County. The next formal steps are likely to include a first appearance or other early court proceedings, the appointment or appearance of defense counsel if one has not already been named, and the filing of charging documents that set out the state’s allegations in greater detail. Investigators may also wait for autopsy findings, forensic testing and any additional witness interviews before releasing a fuller account of the confrontation inside the house.
For now, much of the public record comes from law enforcement statements issued in the hours after the arrest, and those statements focus on the confession, the missing truck and the basic timeline. The sheriff’s office has not publicly said whether Giblin called 911 herself or whether someone else made the report that sent deputies to the home. Officials also have not said whether Bradley and Giblin had a formal lease arrangement, how long they had lived together, or whether deputies had been called to the address before. Those unanswered questions matter because they could help explain the relationship between the two and whether there were warning signs before the killing. Still, the central allegation from investigators is direct and severe: that an argument inside the Punta Gorda home ended with Bradley stabbed to death, his body covered and his truck driven away before deputies in two counties brought the case to an arrest.
The human toll has been just as visible as the criminal case. Friends speaking after Bradley’s death remembered him less as a name in a police release than as an older man with roots in the neighborhood and a history of helping others. Their remarks gave the case a layer of grief beyond the usual language of charges and evidence. At the same time, the sheriff’s office cast the arrest as an example of close coordination between agencies across county lines. Prummell said Southwest Florida benefits when agencies work together “so effectively for the people we serve,” a statement that underscored how quickly the investigation crossed from Charlotte County into Sarasota County once detectives realized the truck was missing. That cooperation, officials say, helped them locate the suspect before the case grew colder and before the missing vehicle disappeared farther from the scene.
As of Tuesday, Giblin remained accused in Bradley’s death, and the case was still in its early stages. The next milestone is expected to come in court, where prosecutors are likely to outline the charges and any new records may provide a fuller timeline of what happened on March 8.
Author note: Last updated March 10, 2026.