Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition

Social media leads cops to suspect in two deaths

- By Adam Sacasa Staff writer asacasa@sun-sentinel.com

Messenger and Snapchat messages helped lead detectives to a man accused of fatally shooting two men in a Greenacres park, Palm Beach County investigat­ors said.

Scott Cinevert, 24, of Wellington, was arrested Tuesday in connection with the April 27 shootings of Matthew Makarits, 22, of Lake Worth, and Marcus Stukes, 21, in what was called a botched robbery. Neither victim had a known local address.

Cinevert faces two counts of murder and two counts of armed robbery. He is being held without bond at the Palm Beach County Jail.

Investigat­ors found Snapchat messages from the night before the shooting on Cinevert’s phone.

Using text shorthand, a man tells Cinevert that he’s going to give him a .45-caliber handgun and a Draco pistol, according to a Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office arrest report.

Facebook Messenger conversati­ons from the morning of the shooting show Cinevert setting up a deal to buy drugs from Makarits, according to the report.

“YOU STILL SELL WEED HAVING A BARB-QUE TONIGHT NEED SOME TREE,” read one message from Cinevert to Makarits shortly after 9 a.m. April 27, the report said.

The two agreed on a price and met about 1:45 p.m. in Bowman Park, just north of Lake Worth Road near Haverhill Road.

Witnesses told investigat­ors they saw Makarits and Stukes inside a car at the park when a sedan pulled up. A man, later identified as Cinevert, got out of the rear passenger side of the sedan carrying a Draco pisFaceboo­k tol, deputies said.

Cinevert walked up to the other car and shot the men through the windshield, according to the report.

Surveillan­ce video from the park shows people scattering at the sound of gunfire and, shortly thereafter, the sedan driving away. Detectives were able to find an associate of Cinevert who had been using a car that was described by witnesses and seen on the surveillan­ce video.

That man told investigat­ors he had heard news accounts of the shooting, but didn’t remember where he was when it happened because he “smokes a lot of marijuana,” the report said. It’s not yet clear whether the man will be charged.

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s spokesman Eric Davis said the investigat­ion into the shooting is ongoing.

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