The Xbox Murders

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The Deltona massacre (commonly referred to as the "Xbox Murders") was a residential murder which occurred on August 6, 2004, at a home on Telford Lane in Deltona, Florida, United States. Four men broke into the home and bludgeoned six victims to death. The four attackers, apparently inspired by the film Wonderland, tortured and killed four men, two women, and a dog inside the home, making it the bloodiest mass murder in Volusia County history. Their primary motive for the murders was revenge on Erin Belanger, who had evicted a squatter, long time criminal Troy Victorino, from her grandmother's then-vacant house, with a secondary motive of recovering of an Xbox game console and some clothing that Victorino had left behind. Victorino was able to further motivate his accomplices by pointing out that the attack would likely allow them to kill another person they were mad at, but that person happened not to be at the house that night.

This case has always sort of intrigued me, though I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because of the sheer brutality of the murders. Or maybe the fact that the murders were committed by a group of four, rather than a single person or duo. Or maybe it's because I'm stunned at how paper thin the motive was. Or maybe it's because all the perpetrators had severe mental illnesses/torturous upbringings. But maybe it's none of these, and my passing interest in this crime is unknowable.

Anyways, if you've got anything you want to say about the case, go right ahead.

Erin was a friend of my younger sister; they were in high school together. She used to sometimes sleep over "our" (our parents') house in the late 90s.

As stated in the victims section of the wikipedia article, she was from New Hampshire, but lived in Massachusetts (where we live) for quite some time.

tfsa47090 wrote:

Erin was a friend of my younger sister; they were in high school together. She used to sometimes sleep over "our" (our parents') house in the late 90s.

As stated in the victims section of the wikipedia article, she was from New Hampshire, but lived in Massachusetts (where we live) for quite some time.

Jesus, I can hardly imagine what it must've felt like to know that she died like that. I'm sorry.

QuestionMark wrote:

tfsa47090 wrote:

Erin was a friend of my younger sister; they were in high school together. She used to sometimes sleep over "our" (our parents') house in the late 90s.

As stated in the victims section of the wikipedia article, she was from New Hampshire, but lived in Massachusetts (where we live) for quite some time.

Jesus, I can hardly imagine what it must've felt like to know that she died like that. I'm sorry.

That's very kind of you to say.

My sister fell out of touch with her, I'm not exactly sure when. They both graduated in 2000, but they didn't graduate together, because Erin ended up transferring to a suburban high school. But I do think they were in touch for at least a little while after their graduations.

In 2004, I had multiple jobs, and one of them was in a convenience store, and this was all over the local newspaper.

I kept looking at her grainy photos, and knew that she looked somewhat familiar, but couldn't immediately place who she was. (She looked a little different than she had 4-6 years prior).

I went to my parents' house after work, and my sister said "Remember Erin that used to sleep over once in a while? The one who loved Sebastian (one of our cats)? That's her in the paper."

It was nauseating from beginning to end; when I read it, and when my sister told me that.

My sister was in shock about it for a bit, honestly.

The people Erin was closest to haven't gotten over it to this day, and I don't think they ever will. I know I wouldn't.

I feel terribly for her father, who is guilt ridden beyond description about even suggesting that she move to Florida.

She was a really quiet, respectful, friendly, caring person when she was in our house. She absolutely adored our cats and she was wonderful with them, especially with our cat Sebastian, as previously mentioned.

The fact that they also murdered Erin's beloved little dog just makes this utter horror even worse, even though that seems impossible with evil of this magnitude.