SLAIN DEPUTY’S WIDOW FOUND DEAD AT 67
The widow of Rocky Hunt has died, just four months after the 25th anniversary of the murder of the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s deputy.
The Sheriff ’s Office said Tuesday afternoon that services for Judith Hunt are set for 2 p.m. today at Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery in Royal Palm Beach, where Rocky Hunt also is buried.
A son found Judith Hunt, 66, dead at about 5 p.m. on May 21 at her home near Vero Beach, Indian River County Sheriff’s spokesman Maj. Eric Flowers said Tuesday afternoon. He said a cause of death has not been determined but there’s no indication of foul play.
At about 11 p.m. on Feb. 25, 1993, Nicholas Hardy, then 18 and carrying a stolen gun, shot Deputy James Stone Hunt III twice in the head as the deputy questioned Hardy and three others. Hunt, 41, had been checking a silent bank alarm at Jog and Lantana roads.
Hardy took Hunt’s sidearm and later used it to shoot himself in the head. He survived; his condition improved and he was declared competent to stand trial. He originally was sentenced to death but that later was changed to life in prison. He remains incarcerated.
Hunt left a wife and two sons, James IV and Jason. His death marked the most recent time a law enforcement officer was murdered in the line of duty in Palm Beach County.
Judith Hunt and other family members did not respond to inquiries for a February Palm Beach Post anniversary story. His sisters declined a formal interview, but Roxana Hunt-Gale said at the time, on behalf of the family, that, “Our lives were shattered and our hearts broken that day, and not a day goes by that we don’t miss him dearly!” Gale did not immediately return a call on Tuesday.