"We're very shocked."
The Mikells say everyone eating dinner at Akins Diner tonight was talking about.,and shocked by, the murder of well-known resident Archie Kelly Jr. He was known around town as "junior".
"We went to church with him and Jeffrey's known him I guess all his life," Dawn Mikell, resident, said.
Gilchrist County Sheriff's Deputies were called to this house on County Road 341 in Bell early today. A friend had stopped by to check on Kelly, who hadn't been answering his phone, and found him dead inside his home.
"As you can see behind me, we have the Medical Examiner that's still on scene, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Crime Lab is still working," Sheriff David Turner said.
Deputies say they found the house in complete disarray... and they think Kelly could have been the victim of a robbery.
In fact, the sheriff confirms his home had been broken into on other occasions. And the motive could have had something to do with his job as a farmer.
"People knew that because he was a successful farmer that he had cash on him from time to time," Turner said.
And the break-ins at Kelly's were no secret.
"If you needed something, all you had to do was ask and he would've given it to you. There was no sense in doing anything to him. He was very generous," Dawn Mikell said.
The sheriff said Kelly was known by most everyone in Bell.
"Quite a few of our residents here would stop by and see him on a regular basis, eat lunch with him and visit here in the local community," Turner said.
The sheriff says they don't have any suspects at this time. They are interviewing neighbors.
Junior Kelly was 78 years old and had lived in Bell his entire life.