Local mental health counselor charged with murder

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Local mental health counselor charged with murder
BEACON PHOTO/ELI WITEK<br> NO BOND — Travis McBride at his first appearance in court Jan. 19. No bond was ordered for McBride, who is charged with first-degree premeditated murder in the death of 51-year-old Clinton Dorsey.

Travis McBride, 46, was charged Jan. 18 with premeditated first-degree murder in connection with the death of a homeless individual in DeLand.

Travis McBride is the son of Cmdr. Francis “Mac” McBride, who retired after 45 years with the DeLand Police Department. 

McBride is accused of fatally shooting 51-year-old Clinton Dorsey the night of Jan. 17.

Dorsey, identified as a homeless Black male by witnesses in McBride’s charging affidavit, was found dead Jan. 18 by police in the trunk of a red hatchback vehicle registered to McBride. The vehicle was parked at 620 E. New York Ave., a business suite that includes McBride’s mental-health-counseling practice, Starting Point Mental Health LLC. The business is less than a block away from the scene of the alleged murder, at 115 S. Frankfort Ave.

McBride’s charging affidavit lays out the police’s investigation.

According to the affidavit, several anonymous 911 calls led police to begin an investigation around 7 a.m. Jan. 18. Transcriptions of the 911 calls state that witnesses said there had been a murder around 11:30 p.m. Jan. 17, and that a white male, identified as “Travis,” was the perpetrator.

Officers quickly identified a female witness, who has not been publicly identified, who said she witnessed the entirety of the shooting and the aftermath.

BEACON PHOTO/DARA SHAPIRO
ACTIVE INVESTIGATION — Crime-scene investigators from the DeLand Police Department are on Frankfort Avenue Jan. 18 near an alleged murder scene. Mental-health counselor Travis McBride was arrested Jan. 18 and charged with first degree murder.

The witness told police McBride had shown up earlier looking for Dorsey, because McBride apparently believed Dorsey intended to harm McBride’s dogs. The witness told police McBride said he was looking for Dorsey “because Clinton put glass in a jar for his dogs, and he was done with it,” as described by one detective in a narrative supplement to the charging affidavit.

Later that night, according to that witness, McBride and Dorsey stood at either side of Frankfort Avenue arguing, when McBride allegedly shot Dorsey several times. The witness told investigators that McBride then crossed the street, fired several more rounds at close range, and then dragged “Clinton’s lifeless body westbound across the roadway and out of view,” according to the report.

The detectives discovered spent 9 millimeter rounds at both the Frankfort Avenue location, and in a trash can located in the parking lot at 620 E. New York Ave., where they also discovered the red vehicle and Dorsey’s body. 

At McBride’s first appearance Jan. 19, state prosecutors asked for no bond because “the proof is evident, and the presumption [of guilt] is great.” McBride’s private attorney, Michael Gray Moore, agreed to take up the question of bond at a later date.

Cmdr. Francis “Mac” McBride did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

According to Travis McBride’s website, he has been in practice as a mental-health counselor for more than 15 years. 

Court records show McBride has previously been charged in domestic violence cases. The last charge, a misdemeanor, was in 2018.  

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3 COMMENTS

  1. It is interesting that Travis was not charged with F.S. 914.22 1e. The main witness told police that Travis told her not to talk to police. This caused the witness to feel scared but she still reported what she saw.

    Also Travis should have been charged with aggregated stalking since he told the witness he was looking for Clinton and was going to kill or hurt him. He showed the witness his gun to communicate his sincerity. The witness communicated repeatedly that she was scared of Travis.

    Travis has been protected for too long by the volusia justice system and local law enforcement.

  2. This man has been violent since primary school and up. He punched me in the face when I was in 7th grade. His bullying continued all through school. He is where he belongs. This is a sick man. The fact that the deland police department covered or let him slip on by the system is alarming. You just can’t trust even the police anymore.

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