Okaloosa County 911 workers received a startling call on Sept. 11.

"I just killed my family," a caller told operators just before 9 p.m.

Investigators now believe that caller was 35-year-old Jeffrey G. Hutchinson, a man currently awaiting trial in the worst murder case ever in Okaloosa County.

The Hutchinson case was just one of several high profile crimes along the Emerald Coast in 1998.

Hutchinson is accused of using a 12-gauge shotgun to kill his live-in fiancée, Renee LaDean Flaherty, 32, and Flaherty's three children, Logan, 4; Amanda, 6; and Jeffrey, 8.

The couple had moved to the Crestview area from Spokane, Wash., about a year before the slayings.

The four bodies were found inside the couple's home at 410 John King Road that night. Hutchinson was found facedown in the garage splattered with blood, lawmen said.

Investigators said the tragedy was likely the result of a domestic dispute gone terribly awry.

Maj. Phil Irish of the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said the couple had been fighting earlier in the evening and Hutchinson packed his belongings in his vehicle and ended up at bar before returning home.

"They had an argument and she talked to a friend in Washington," Irish said.

Hutchinson, however, told the Sheriff's Office that one or possibly two men wearing ski masks entered the bedroom and fired a shotgun, according to a sheriff's report. Hutchinson said he then wrestled with the man before he got off a second shot.

But investigators said there was no evidence of anyone else being in the house that night.

Hutchinson's son told a Washington television station that his father - a 12-year veteran of the U.S. Army Rangers - suffered from Gulf War Syndrome.

"I'm sorry it happened," 12-year-old Geoff Hutchinson told KREM-TV. "And I care for him a lot and I love him, but, I mean, he does need psychiatric help."

Flaherty had worked for the U.S. Postal Service in Niceville for about a year, both as a part-time clerk and a part-time rural route carrier serving the Rocky Bayou area.

Among the children, Jeffrey was in fourth grade and Amanda in first, both at Antioch Elementary School in Crestview. Logan had not yet begun school.

The cremated remains of the four victims were returned to Washington for burial and a memorial service was held at Live Oak Baptist Church.

Hutchinson, who was working as a bodyguard at the time of the murders, remains in custody at the Okaloosa County Jail. His trial has been set for May 10.

Also in jail awaiting trial on a murder charge is prominent Twin Cities businessman Roger H. Wright.

Wright, 71 at the time of his arrest, is accused of shooting his longtime friend, 77-year-old Niceville resident Jim Fritsch, to death following a night of drinking and an argument on the way home.

Wright, a Valparaiso oil distributor, has remained in jail - or under guard in a hospital room - since the January event.

Immediately following his arrest, Wright was housed in the mental health unit of Fort Walton Beach Medical Center for fear he might attempt suicide. From there, he was transported to a Pensacola hospital to undergo heart surgery.

Okaloosa Circuit Judge Jack Heflin refused to allow Wright to recuperate from the operation at home, and, in fact, denied him bond altogether. Heflin said Wright "could easily commit another act of senseless violence."Wright is scheduled to stand trial Feb. 8.

An untimely death also came to 25-year-old Joseph Smith, a player on Choctawhatchee High School's 1990 state championship football team.

Smith was stabbed during a brawl outside of Fish Head's Saloon in Destin on Oct. 17. Stephane Collier, a 19-year-old Hurlburt Field airman, was charged with manslaughter in the case.

The event spelled the eventual demise of the often-troubled saloon. First, local military officials banned airmen from patronizing the establishment, and then the city of Destin began procedures to have the establishment declared a public nuisance.

Owners of the bar voluntarily closed the establishment in October and put the building up for sale.

Another 1998 murder, however, remains unsolved. No suspect has been arrested in the death of 71-year-old Jewel Summerlin Melvin.

Her son found Melvin's body May 15 in her W. U.S. Highway 90 home. Her vehicle was stolen but later recovered near the Holt community.

Police have been tight-lipped with details of the case, only releasing a sketch of a hitchhiker wanted for questioning who was seen in the vicinity of the car.

The killers of two other local residents, however, were brought to justice in 1998. After eight years, Jimmy Ates, 52, of Baker, was tried and convicted in the 1991 shooting death of his wife, Norma Jean Ates. Prosecutors believed the former Baker High School teacher shot his wife and then staged a burglary and set fire to their home to cover his crime.

Attorneys for Ates, who is awaiting sentencing, have filed court papers asking for a new trial based on evidence not introduced in the original proceedings.

In another case, Lamar Brooks, 25, of Chester, Pa., was found guilty of helping his cousin plan and carry out the 1996 stabbing murders of Eglin Air Force Base Senior Airman Rachel Carlson and her 3-month-old daughter, Alexis Stuart.

Brooks was sentenced to death and later denied another trial.

Staff Writer Louis Cooper may be reached at 267-8300, Ext. 205, or at louisc@nwfdailynews.com