The ice cream man murder case ended in March 2023 when a Hillsborough County, Florida jury convicted Michael Keetley of murdering two brothers and wounding four other men on Thanksgiving morning 2010. Prosecutors said Keetley, a former ice cream truck driver who had been shot and robbed of $12 months earlier, went hunting for the man he blamed and opened fire on a group of poker players who had nothing to do with the robbery. He is serving life in prison.
The Robbery That Started It
On January 23, 2010, two masked gunmen ambushed Keetley as he drove his brightly colored ice cream truck through south Hillsborough County. They shot him in the leg, chest, and both arms, and took $12 from the truck.1Newsweek. Ice Cream Man Michael Keetley Back in Dock over Unsolved Double Murder One bullet shattered his right hand, leaving permanent nerve damage. He walked with a limp afterward.2FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Ice Cream Man Accused in Double Murder Wont Testify at Trial
Prosecutors said the robbery consumed him. Friends, ex-girlfriends, and ice cream customers testified that Keetley kept asking about a man known as “Kreeper,” whom he believed was responsible. One acquaintance said Keetley told her to watch for someone with “Creeper” tattooed on his arm.3Court TV. Sentencing – FL v Michael Keetley Ice Cream Man Murder Retrial According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the man Keetley was looking for was Omar Bailon. Bailon was not among the men eventually shot, and investigators said he had no connection to the robbery.
Thanksgiving Morning at 604 Ocean Mist Court
Around 2 a.m. on November 25, 2010, a group of men were playing poker on the front porch of a home in Ruskin. A dark minivan pulled up. A white man wearing a black shirt with the word “sheriff” on the front got out and walked to the porch.4FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Prosecutors Say Ice Cream Man Accused of Thanksgiving Day Revenge Murders Modified His Handgun
Three of the four survivors testified that the man asked for “Kreeper,” demanded identification, ordered the group to the ground, and then opened fire. Brothers Juan Guitron, 28, and Sergio Guitron, 22, were killed. Four others were seriously wounded. The gunman drove off. Sheriff David Gee told reporters afterward: “We believe he went to the wrong residence and had bad intelligence on who this guy was.”5The Ledger. Ruskin Thanksgiving Day Killings Were Revenge Gone Wrong Investigators Say
How Investigators Tied Keetley to the Shooting
The gunman had asked for the same person Keetley had been publicly hunting for months. That connection put him at the center of the investigation almost immediately.3Court TV. Sentencing – FL v Michael Keetley Ice Cream Man Murder Retrial Survivors described a dark minivan that investigators linked to Keetley, and prosecutors argued he had used the “sheriff” shirt to gain compliance from the men on the porch.
Physical evidence came from Jennifer Clark, a firearms analyst with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. She compared .45 caliber shell casings recovered from the porch to casings collected on the Keetley family property and testified that the toolmarks on both sets were consistent with having been fired from the same Glock handgun. On cross-examination she acknowledged she could not identify the weapon as a Glock to the exclusion of all other firearms, and could not name a specific model.3Court TV. Sentencing – FL v Michael Keetley Ice Cream Man Murder Retrial
Digital evidence came from a laptop in the Keetley household. FDLE analyst Connie Bell testified that the search term “Creeper” appeared 185 times in the computer’s history and “Ocean Mist” appeared 92 times.6FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Computer Searches Focus on Testimony at the Trial of Ice Cream Man Accused of Revenge Murders Bell agreed on cross-examination that she could not confirm who had been using the laptop, since Keetley and his parents shared access to it.
What the Defense Argued
Keetley’s attorneys argued mistaken identity, with a central claim rooted in his injuries. Dr. David Halpern, who had treated Keetley’s hand and shoulder, testified that without a functioning radial nerve Keetley could not extend the fingers, thumb, or wrist of his right hand. Racking a shotgun, Halpern said, is a two-handed task requiring strength and coordination that Keetley’s damaged hand could not provide.2FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Ice Cream Man Accused in Double Murder Wont Testify at Trial Keetley did not testify.
Why It Took Two Trials
The case took a decade to reach a courtroom. The first trial, in February 2020, ended in a hung jury that voted 10-2 in favor of acquittal.7FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Killer Ice Cream Man Sentenced to Life in Prison The state chose to retry.
The March 2023 retrial rested on the same circumstantial web: the fixation on Kreeper, the computer searches, the ballistics comparison, the minivan, and the sheriff-branded shirt. Assistant State Attorney Michelle Doherty argued in closing that Keetley had targeted the victims based on “rumor” and “speculation” and shot them indiscriminately because they were Hispanic, like Omar Bailon.3Court TV. Sentencing – FL v Michael Keetley Ice Cream Man Murder Retrial After 13 hours of deliberation over three days, the jury convicted Keetley on two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted first-degree murder.
The Sentence and Pending Appeal
On May 26, 2023, Hillsborough County Judge Christopher Sabella sentenced Keetley to life in prison on each of the six counts, to be served concurrently, with a 25-year minimum mandatory term on each.8New York Post. Ice Cream Man Who Killed Two Brothers over 12 Dollar Robbery Gets Life in Prison Judge Sabella told him: “You will, barring any reversal on appeal, spend the rest of your natural life in the Florida Department of Corrections.”7FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Killer Ice Cream Man Sentenced to Life in Prison
Keetley appealed to Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. As of 2025 the case remained on the appellate docket under case number 2D2023-1190, with no publicly reported outcome.9Justia Law. Keetley v State of Florida – 2025