Bombshell ‘Treehouse’ suit
THERE’S a new twist in Florida’s infamous Treehouse Murder case — a potential bombshell in the form of a civil suit. Franklin Tyrone Tucker — the husband of CrossFit cofounder Lauren Jenai, and a suspect in the case who claims he’s innocent — is prepping a potential lawsuit in Florida against the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office as well as members of the county’s State Attorney’s office, a new court filing reveals.
Tucker was arrested in 2017 on first-degree felony murder charges in the Treehouse Murder incident and was held in jail for nearly two years awaiting trial without bail.
Page Six exclusively revealed that during that time, Tucker’s pal from high school — successful fitness entrepreneur Jenai — came to defend his innocence, and the two fell in love. They got married in July.
According to civil court documents filed in Florida last month and obtained by Page Six, Tucker now claims he has “several causes of action” to file against members of the local sheriff’s and state attorney’s offices, including “false arrest,” “malicious prosecution,” “various civil rights claims,” “defamation” and “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
His attorney alleges in the papers that there was “substantial, wrongful, dishonest and illegal conduct” by police and prosecutors in Tucker’s case, and “ample reason to believe that a conspiracy of misdeeds, illegal actions and false representations have been entered into by several members” of the sheriff ’s and state attorney’s offices.
They also say a deposition from the surviving victim in the robbery-homicide, Paula Belmonte, will clear Tucker’s name. Prosecutors have alleged that Tucker and another man stabbed Stock Island, Fla., resident Mathew Bonnett to death when he came to the aid of Belmonte as she was being robbed in her home, described as “a treehouse.”
The documents name nine potential defendants in Tucker’s planned lawsuit, including Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay and State Attorney Dennis Ward. Reps didn’t comment due to a gag order on the case.