After Gainesville Police found a Gainesville man dead in his apartment Thursday afternoon, officers arrested the man’s roommate for his murder.
Jon Hughes, 61, was found with multiple stab wounds in his apartment at Choice Apartments, located at 2101 NE Second St., GPD spokesperson Matthew Goeckel said.
Police discovered his body after the property manager called 911 and said a resident found his roommate deceased at 4:14 p.m., officer Ben Tobias, a GPD spokesperson, wrote in an email.
During the initial investigation, police found out Hughes’ roommate Ronald Cannon, 27, called the maintenance phone line for his apartment and told a staff member he had killed his roommate, Goeckel said.
Police received a tip on the whereabouts of Cannon and found him near Southwest 20th Avenue, about 7 miles from the crime scene.
Cannon told police he had killed his roommate out of self defense, according to an arrest report. He said Hughes had hit him with a golf club and tried to choke him and gouge his eyes out. Police saw no visible injuries on Cannon, Goeckel said.
Cannon said he had no choice but to kill Hughes, according to the report. He said he tried to stab Hughes “anywhere I could, whatever it took,” according to the report.
Hughes was lying in his bed during the attack and had several stab wounds from a large kitchen knife, Goeckel said.
“(Cannon) told us it was maybe a self defense thing, but the evidence on scene doesn’t indicate it was self defense,” Goeckel said. “Mr. Hughes was not prepared, he was laying down.”
Cannon was arrested on a charge of murder and taken to Alachua County Jail where he remains, as of press time, with no bond.
