It was a night of celebration, but the dawn brought a morning of a different kind.

On the evening of May 2, 1992, thirty-one-year-old Lakeland, Florida, rancher Larry Costine was ebullient after winning a roping contest at the Dade City rodeo. The feat netted him and his partner $350. Larry and his equally elated girlfriend, twenty-six-year-old Melissa “Jo” Sermons, partied through the night.

After eating breakfast with friends at 2:00 a.m. on May 3, Larry and Jo gave one of the friends a ride home at approximately 4:00. They are then believed to have arrived at Larry’s trailer around 4:15.

When last seen in the early morning hours of May 3, the cow-couple were still ridin’ high. By the following morning, however, the cowboy was dead and the cowgirl, the police initially believed, had fled.

On the morning of May 4, Larry Costine was found lying face down in his trailer home, having been shot to death. Several sightings of Jo Sermons were reported in the months thereafter. For many years, she was considered the primary person of interest in the murder of her lover. Developments in the last decade, however, have caused her status to be changed to that of an endangered missing person.

Although Jo Sermons’ remains have not been found, authorities now believe that the cowgirl, like the cowboy, was gunned down.

                                       Larry Costine  Melissa Jo Sermons

Both Larry Costine and Jo Sermons worked at The Cattlemen’s Livestock Auction Market in Lakeland, thirty-five miles east of Tampa. The business was owned by Larry’s uncle, Earlow Costine.

Larry and Jo were off on May 3, but they were both slated to work the following day. Each failed to arrive as scheduled and Earlow was unable to reach either by phone. He went to his nephew’s home and found Larry’s truck parked in his driveway. He could hear a radio playing inside the trailer, but his knocks on the door went unanswered. Earlow then called the Polk County Sheriff’s Department.

Earlow Costine

Larry’s Uncle

Upon entering the trailer, deputies found a nude Larry lying face down on the floor. He had been shot four times in the back and head. No signs of a struggle or forcible entry were found in the trailer. Authorities ruled out robbery as he had over $300 in his wallet. His bed had not been slept in.

One of Larry’s guns, a .357 caliber handgun, was missing. Ballistics tests showed he was killed with such a weapon.

Larry Lay Dead

Larry was recently divorced from his wife Donna. Jo had recently ended her relationship with Danny Cerezo, with whom she had lived with for over a year, to date Larry.

Because Larry’s murder appeared to be a crime of passion, suspicion fell on the former romantic partners of the murdered and missing person. Each, however, provided alibis which checked out.

Donna Costine

Larry’s Former Wife

After determining that the missing person, Jo Sermons, had not returned to her residence, authorities began to view her as the potential culprit.

Donna says Larry had a hot temper and liked pushing people’s buttons. Because Jo knew where Larry kept his guns, police theorized she had shot him to death during an argument. In addition, investigators believed Jo was the only person Larry would have allowed to see him in the nude.

Furthering suspicions were several reported sightings of Jo at truck stops across Florida, Texas, and Kansas in the weeks after Larry’s murder. Although none could be confirmed, authorities deemed the sightings credible because Jo was a licensed truck driver.

Additional sightings of Jo were reported in Alabama, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

Reported Sightings Of Jo

For sixteen years, Jo Sermons was considered the primary person of interest in Larry Costine’s murder.  In 2008, however, police announced they believed the reported sightings of her in the months after the killing were cases of mistaken identity and that their initial theory of a former lover as the culprit is correct.

Where Did Jo Go?

Danny Cerezo, more than Donna Costine, was viewed as a person of interest in Larry’s murder. He also worked at the Cattlemen’s Livestock Auction Market and was upset at Jo’s leaving him for Larry.

Cerezo’s former wife said he had physically abused her on several occasions and once assaulted her after running her off the road. The latter incident occurred while the couple were in the process of divorcing, but the charges against Cerezo were dropped after their divorce was finalized.

In this 1977 photo, Cerezo, also a rodeo enthusiast, is riding a Bucking Bull.

Jo’s First Bronco Busting Beau

Jo told her mother, June Freeman, that Cerezo was spying on her and had called and harassed her several times. June also said he asked her and other family members about Jo’s relationships with other men after she had dumped him.

On the day before she disappeared, Jo told her mom Cerezo had called her and asked her.

June Freeman

Jo’s Mother

Danny and his brother Joe were believed involved in trafficking cocaine from the Florida Keys to Atlanta. Joe had served several stints in prison on a variety of charges, including cocaine possession, burglary, theft, and fraud. While he was imprisoned, a cellmate says he confessed his involvement in the murders of Larry Costine and Jo Sermons.

In February 2008, Joe Cerezo was released from prison after serving three-and-a-half years for multiple DUI convictions and for driving without a license. Shortly before his death in November, he told friends the same story he had allegedly told his cellmate.

Joe said he and his brother were at the rodeo and that Danny became irate after seeing his former girlfriend with Larry. Afterwards, they drove their nephew’s car to Larry’s trailer and waited for them. When they arrived, the brothers forced the couple inside the trailer at gunpoint. Joe claimed he held a gun on them while Danny forced Larry to give him his gun which he used to kill them.

Joe Cerezo

Despite Joe Cerezo’s statements, the Polk County District Attorney determined he did have sufficient grounds to charge Danny Cerezo with murder.

Nonetheless, investigators re-examined the latter’s potential involvement. In so doing, they found, but have not revealed, physical evidence potentially linking him to Larry’s murder. In re-interviewing his friends, investigators found they had “stretched the truth” about Cerezo’s alibi for the morning of the crime.

In 2014, Danny Cerezo, then working as a Forest Ranger for the Florida Forest Service, was indicted for lying to a grand jury when questioned about Larry Costine’s murder. Several articles from 2014 state he was being held in the Dade County jail. I have not been able to find any more recent information about Cerezo’s status in relation to Larry’s murder and to Jo’s disappearance, although several articles state he is suffering from throat cancer.

Danny Cerezo

Jo Sermons was never charged with the murder of Larry Costine, nor even formally named a suspect, but for years she was considered as a person of interest.

Investigators now believe she instead met the same fate as her lover.

Jo Was Likely Murdered

In his deathbed confession, Joe Cerezo claimed he and Danny attempted to make it appear that Jo Sermons had shot Larry Costine. After Danny shot his former girlfriend and her new lover to death with Larry’s handgun, Joe Cerezo said they dumped her body in the Green Swamp in Central Florida, between Tampa and Orlando. If true, the likelihood of finding her remains is remote.

Jo May Be Lost Forever

Melissa Jo Sermons has been missing since May 3, 1992. At the time of her disappearance she was twenty-six-years-old, five-feet-ten-inches tall, and weighed one-hundred-seventy-five pounds. She had a thick build, was physically fit, and strong. She had strawberry blonde hair, green eyes, and a scar under her nose. Both of her ears were pierced. When last seen, she was wearing a black shirt, burgundy pants, and gray cowboy boots.

Jo held licenses to operate tractor-trailers and trucks and was adept at operating many different kinds of machinery. She also loved animals, particularly horses. Jo may have used the name Pauline Crouse.

Animal Lover

Jo Sermons would today be fifty-eight-years-old.

If you believe you have any information on her whereabouts, or any information on the murder of Larry Costine, please contact the Polk County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office Homicide unit at 863) 298-6379, or send an email to [email protected].

                                         Murdered                 Missing

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74046203/elwin-lawrence-costine

SOURCES:

• Charley Project
• The Ledger
• Miami Herald
• Tampa Bay Times
• Unsolved Mysteries