No bond for teens arrested in Satellite Beach attack

SATELLITE BEACH -- Three teens arrested in connection with a crowbar attack on a 17-year-old on Thursday morning remain in jail today with no bond allowed.

18-year-old Rebecca Gotay of Indialantic; 18-year-old Jessie Umberger of Satellite Beach and 17-year-old Dylan Thomas were charged with attempted first-degree premeditated murder.

The Brevard County Sheriff's Office on Friday arrested the trio after the attack on a 17-year-old Daniel Vukovich a day earlier.

They are charged with with attempted first-degree premeditated murder. On Saturday, attorneys representing Umberger and Gotay waived their right to appear at a first hearing at the Brevard County Jail in Sharpes. Their next scheduled court time is 8 a.m. March 26 in Viera.

Thomas is juvenile custody.

Police say the crowbar attack on Vukovich was in retaliation for the theft of marijuana and smoking paraphernalia belonging to Thomas and Umberger, who are engaged according to their Facebook profiles.

Vukovich remains in critical condition at Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne.

On Thursday morning, just after 7 a.m., Vukovich was attacked in his driveway. Police say they believe that Gotay drove a vehicle with the three inside, and that Thomas attacked Vukovich with a crowbar in an attempt to kill him.

Umberger and Gotay are scheduled for a first appearance on Saturday morning at the Brevard County Jail. Thomas is in juvenile custody.

Police said they believe the three had been plotting to kill Vukovich for several weeks and that they met on Wednesday night at a residence where Thomas and Umberger were staying.

Tod Goodyear, an investigator with the Brevard County Sheriff's Office, said that none of the three was living with their parents at the time of their arrests.

Thomas liked a number of pro-cannabis pages through his Facebook profile. He had participated in sports previously, having played as a youth with the South Beach Seahawks football team and, more recently, lacrosse at Satellite High School, though he is not currently listed on the team's roster online.

Some at the high school were surprised at the violence in Satellite.

"It seemed like a nice kind of quiet town and then this happens, and I don't know. It's kind of scary," said junior Natalie Quallkenbush, who moved to the city in November.

But others weren't.

"In a way it does (seem surprising), but it seems like something that was inevitable, like something like this always happens in small communities," said junior Hunter Kempf.

Original reports of Vukovich being shot, released by police, were in error.