Police Investigating ‘Suspicious’ and Violent Death of Sally J. Byrd, 66, in Flagler Beach

Last Updated: 3:14 p.m.

Flagler Beach Police Chief Matt Doughney said this afternoon his agency is investigating the “suspicious” death of a woman at the south end of Flagler Beach Thursday morning. A man is in custody in Georgia in connection with the case, after stealing the woman’s car and fleeing the area.

“I can tell you it has not been determined a homicide right now. It’s a suspicious death and under investigation thanks to our department, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office, and the State Attorney’s Office,” Doughney said. “That’s really about it.”




Doughney did not provide additional specifics about the case. But based on interviews with three people closely familiar with the case but not authorized to speak about it publicly, the following can be reported.

The victim is Sally J. Byrd, 66, a resident of Flagler County for at least the last 25 years and the owner of a travel company called Earthwave Consulting. A man called authorities around 5:30 a.m. to report the incident. Authorities found her in a pool of blood at her home, unconscious but still with a heartbeat. “When you say people getting beaten to within an inch of her life, that’s what she was,” one person who saw her said. Signs of trauma were apparent, incluging indications consistent with a strangling. Paramedics who cared for her were taken aback by the scene.

911 Dispatch Center notes indicate the center got a call at 5:24 a.m. from a man saying the victim had fallen “a couple of days ago” and was “not responding well,” that she “seems confused” and is not breathing normally. The caller told the dispatcher it had been about 12 hours, and that she had fallen several times in the past week. As the caller continued to describe the scene, he said the victim would stop breathing, then start up again suddenly.

Byrd was transported to AdventHealth Palm Coast around 6 a.m., where she was pronounced deceased shortly afterward.




The notes indicate paramedics were with the victim around 6. Flagler Beach detective Rosanna Vinci went to the hospital at 7:20. Flagler County Sheriff’s detective Michael Lagana went to the hospital to assist Vinci shortly after 9 a.m., according to dispatch notes.

It was only at 11:43 that the victim’s vehicle was reported as stolen.

The dispatch notes indicate one startling detail: “cleared house” at 2:48 p.m. Thursday, which would suggest that the house was no longer a crime scene just hours after the reporting of the incident, and the ongoing theft.

The person who called in the incident was David Allen Brownstone of Santa Barbara, Calif., a man who referred to himself as a reverend or a pastor to authorities, and who reported that Byrd had fallen, though she lives in a one-level house in Pebble Beach Village. Somehow he was not required to stay in the city or in the county, and after taking the victim’s car to the hospital, left the hospital–and drove on to Georgia.

“We do have a person of interest, we do not have them in custody in Flagler County right now,” Doughney said.

Dispatch notes indicate Brownstone was stopped in Georgia at 7:14 p.m. last night.

An autopsy was conducted. The results are not yet known.

Police detectives obtained a warrant to search the house. It isn’t clear at what point the interest fell on Brownstone, though it appears that a verification of his history may have turned up issues of concern for detectives–as, of course, did the fact that he had stolen Byrd’s vehicle.




Brownstone was arrested in Milledgeville, Ga., in the center part of the state, on a misdemeanor speeding charge and a felony theft charge in another state (meaning Florida), and incarcerated there. “I have a detective in Georgia,” Doughney confirmed today. The relationship between Brownstone and Byrd is not clear, with conflicting reports about whether he was a roommate or a visitor.

Byrd described herself on a professional page and her Earthwave Travel website as a certified and licensed Naturopathic doctor whose travel experiences span the globe, whose focus is “God-Centered  missions, nature-centered adventures, relaxation and fun while traveling well and staying healthy during your trip.” Her lifetime goals, she wrote, “have included research in the field of Aging Well” and to “Have a heart to inspire people , so they can lead a healthier, happier life with a strong positive constitution, without pain balanced hormones and a sharp mind.”