He survived Hurricane Irma, officials said, only to die by a FEMA contractor's hand. 
 
 A Florida man was killed earlier this month by a FEMA contractor he befriended while the suspect was assessing his home for storm damage. 
 
 William Reiss, 68, had shown the contractor, 18-year-old Gerjuan Jackson, his firearm collection and even sold him a pair of handguns, officials said. 
 
 Jackson was arrested this week along with two suspected accomplices for the Jan. 3 slaying of Reiss, whose gun collection was also raided. 
 
 Human remains found in trash can after Hurricane Irma 
 
 They met last year after Hurricane Irma damaged Reiss’ Polk County home, NBC affiliate WFLA reported. 
 
 Jackson, who lives in Mobile, Ala., bought the handguns from Reiss for $800 about two weeks after they met, the news channel reported. 
 
 In November, Jackson was arrested for carrying a pistol without a permit in his native Alabama, the Polk County sheriff’s office said. 
 
 On Jan. 3, he traveled back to Polk County with accomplices Kenley Campbell and Darril Rankin, both 22, to rob Reiss of more guns, the sheriff’s office said. 
 
 12 deaths at senior facility after Hurricane Irma ruled homicide 
 
 Reiss previously sold Jackson a pair of handguns, police said. (Facebook) 
 
 Jackson allegedly went inside Reiss’ home that afternoon while his buddies stayed outside in Campbell’s Chevrolet Sonic. 
 
 That’s when authorities say he shot Reiss four times and also wounded the victim’s roommate, Kenneth Maier, who died of his wounds Friday. 
 
 They then took up to 25 guns from Reiss’ collection and a TV out of his home, loading them into Campbell’s car and Reiss’ Dodge pick-up, the sheriff’s office said. 
 
 The trio torched Reiss’ truck when they got back to Alabama, and sold all but three of his guns on the street as well as the TV. 
 
 Irma-battered Ritz-Carlton South Beach to lay off hundreds 
 
 Cops recovered the remaining three firearms when they arrested the suspects, also finding Jackson’s FEMA ID card. 
 
 Jackson admitted to investigators that he shot Reiss and Maier. 
 
 All three were hit with a first-degree murder charge along with a handful of robbery, burglary and grand theft counts. 
 
 Campbell and Rankin are accused of helping boost up to 25 firearms from Reiss' home. (Polk County Sheriff) 
 
 FEMA, in a statement to WFLA, said it’s looking into the incident — noting Jackson worked for a private contractor tapped by the agency. 
 
 Deputy caught on camera stealing from dead man’s home 
 
 “Questions about individuals employed within those contracted companies, or those companies’ hiring practices, must be pursued through their individual contractors,” the agency said. “FEMA works closely with law enforcement on a regular basis, and will provide appropriate coordination with law enforcement on this incident.” 
 
 He’d been tasked with assessing homes after Irma ripped through Florida last September. 
 
 Jackson’s arrest left other Polk County residents startled that he was inside their home. 
 
 “Oh my God,” an unidentified neighbor of Reiss’ told WFLA she yelled to her husband after the arrest. “Oh my God. This guy was in our house!” 
 
 Jackson came to the woman’s home in late September, where he acted nervous as he asked about guns in the home and the local crime rate. 
 
 “It was a rage that he passed a background check to work through FEMA,” she told the channel. 
 
 Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| POLK CITY, Fla. (WFLA) – A man who flagged down help from good Samaritans after his friend was murdered by a FEMA contractor and two others in Polk City succumbed to his injuries on Friday. 
 
 Kenneth Maier, 57, was standing in the driveway of his home and managed to flag down three people driving by on Jan. 3. 
 
 Maier had been shot several times. He told the good samaritans his friend had also been shot inside of their home on Berkley Road in Polk City. 
 
 The good Samaritans entered the home and found 68-year-old William Reiss deceased. 
 
 Three men were arrested and charged in connection with the murder of Reiss: Gerjuan Jackson, Kenley Campbell and Darril Rankin Jr. 
 
 Jackson initially knew Reiss as a FEMA contractor. 
 
 He met Reiss last year while conducting a damage assessment weeks after Hurricane Irma hit Polk County. 
 
 Maier was taken to a local hospital, where he died on Friday. 
 
 There men were arrested in charged in connection with the murder of Reiss, Gerjuan Jackson, Kenley Campbell and Darril Rankin Jr. 
 
 Jackson initially knew Reiss as a FEMA contractor. 
 
 He met Reiss last year while conducting a damage assessment weeks after Hurricane Irma hit Polk County. 
 
 Additional murder charges against Jackson, Campbell and Rankin Jr. in the death of Maier are pending. 
 
 “We are heartbroken to hear that Kenneth passed away today. We are sending our thoughts and prayers to Kenneth’s family and friends. This act of vicious murder should have never happened,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. ||||| CLOSE Skip in Skip x Embed x Share A pair of suspected killers are on the run after being accused of killing three women. Nathan Rousseau Smith (@fantasticmrnate) has the story. Buzz60 
 
 The tipster who notified law enforcement about Boyette and Rice has been awarded $10,000. (Photo: Escambia County Sheriff's Office) 
 
 PENSACOLA, Fla. — The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has doubled the number of deputies on the street as the department continues searching for suspected murderers William Boyette and Mary Craig Rice, who authorities say are on a multi-state killing spree. 
 
 An attempted murder Monday morning marked the third attack over the last week in a spree that has crossed state lines and left three women dead and one critically injured. 
 
 ECSO deputies responded to a Pensacola address around 6:30 a.m. CT Monday to reports of a home invasion and vehicle theft. The mother of Kayla Crocker went to Crocker's house to check on her after the young mother didn't show up for work and found Crocker with a gunshot wound. Her 2-year-old son was reportedly unharmed. 
 
 Crocker, 28, was taken to the hospital in critical condition, and her vehicle, a white Chevrolet Cobalt, was stolen from the residence. Authorities confirmed via video surveillance that Boyette and Rice took the stolen vehicle to a Shell gas station only minutes later and ate at a nearby Hardee’s. 
 
 Rice had previously been considered a person of interest in the attacks, but was upgraded to an official suspect Monday afternoon. Authorities believe Rice had multiple opportunities to flee or ask for help, and was seen entering stores on her own. 
 
 The small communities along the Florida Panhandle have been on high alert for a week, when the pair’s alleged crime spree began. Two bodies were found at the Emerald Sands Inn in Milton on Jan. 31. One of the victims, 30-year-old Alicia Greer, was in a relationship with Boyette, but police have said all consequent victims have no known connection to the suspect. The second victim in that attack was identified as Jacqueline Jeanette Moore, 39. 
 
 The pair then allegedly went to Lillian, Ala., where authorities say they killed Peggy Broz and stole her vehicle Friday morning. The pair is believed to have then returned to the Pensacola area. 
 
 Monday’s shooting marked the third attack and law enforcement authorities don't believe it will be the last. 
 
 William Boyette and Mary Rice wanted poster (Photo: Special to the News Journal) 
 
 “What we are experiencing is a running nightmare, quite honestly,” ECSO Chief Deputy Chip Simmons said during a press conference Monday. 
 
 Simmons said all minor property investigations have been put on hold to free up deputies to search for Boyette, 44, and Rice, 38. 
 
 “In short we have a killer, he is in our midst … everyone, and I mean everyone, should be aware of this, should be aware of what they look like.” 
 
 Boyette has a drug trafficking history, according to Morgan, including heavy use of the drug Spice. Users have been known to stay awake for several days at a time, Morgan said. 
 
 Boyette, 44, had a lengthy history of violent crimes leading up to the homicides over the past week. A familiar thread is woven through each. Arrest records show a consistent violent pattern in which Boyette is accused of attacking girlfriends, threatening to kill them and on numerous occasions allegedly beating or stabbing them until they called for help. 
 
 Boyette was accused in 2014 in Santa Rosa County of beating a girlfriend because she came home late from work and smelled of alcohol. He told her that if she reported his abuse he would "drag (a trial) out and make her life miserable," according to the arrest report. 
 
 The Escambia County Sheriff's Office is investigating a home invasion and shooting on Beulah Road. The Monday morning incident is being linking to suspect fugitive William Boyette. (Photo: Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com) 
 
 The victim was so in fear for her life that she initially lied to police, telling them Boyette hadn’t touched her despite the redness and swelling on her face. Eventually she told police Boyette had threatened to kill her a number of times, according to the arrest report, and that he was the offender in another violent case where she had told police she was attacked by a stranger. Charges in the case were dropped when the victim recanted once again. 
 
 A Pensacola woman called 911 in June 2015 and whispered to dispatchers that her boyfriend was trying to kill her. She said he had stabbed her multiple times in the arms and legs. He had tried to strangle her and taken away her phone in an attempt to keep her from seeking help, she said. When Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived on scene, the victim was bleeding and crying as she directed police to a bedroom where her attacker had passed out with a large kitchen knife in his hand. 
 
 In the bedroom, deputies found William Boyette. 
 
 Boyette was booked into Escambia County Jail on a $260,000 bond facing charges of kidnapping, battery, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and obstructing justice. He spent less than a year in custody before he was released June 17, 2016, when prosecutors were forced to drop the charges against him because his victim couldn't be found. She was wanted on her own criminal charges. 
 
 Within 14 hours of his release, the U.S. Marshals arrested Boyette in Santa Rosa County on a probation violation. He served only three months in jail. 
 
 It's a story that has played out over and over throughout Boyette's life. 
 
 He was arrested at least three other times in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in as many years on battery, assault, kidnapping and weapons charges, but never served more than a year in jail for the offenses. Boyette's troubles go as far back as 2002 in Santa Rosa County, where he has faced charges of grand theft, drug trafficking, felony battery, possession of a firearm, armed robbery with a firearm, aggravated assault by threat, and resisting arrest. In many cases, charges were eventually dropped. 
 
 Boyette had been out of local law enforcement custody only four months before he allegedly killed he first of the three recent victims. 
 
 The same caliber of weapon has been used in each murder, but authorities haven't released any further details on the weapon. 
 
 Deputies have been searching a wooded area near Nine Mile Road after footage showed Boyette and Rice in the area Monday. Morgan said police are searching for possible encampments, and dogs have been used to search those areas. 
 
 “He has made this statement to many, many people that he will not be taken alive,” Morgan said. 
 
 “So again, in law enforcement we take those threats and those admonitions very seriously.” 
 
 Follow Emma Kennedy on Twitter: @Em_Ken_ 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2kGALFe
– He was a victim of Hurricane Irma, and then allegedly a victim of something much worse. Police say William Reiss, 68, was murdered on Jan. 3 by the FEMA contractor who compiled the damage estimate of his Polk County, Fla., home in September. The New York Daily News describes Reiss as having "befriended" Gerjuan Jackson. The two reportedly discussed Reiss' gun collection, and the 18-year-old Alabama man purchased two handguns from Reiss weeks after they met for $800. The Miami Herald reports Jackson lost possession of those guns during a subsequent marijuana bust and allegedly decided to replace them via Reiss' stash. Police say he drove to the home with two accomplices who waited in the car. Jackson allegedly shot Reiss and his roommate Kenneth Maier, who initially managed to flag down help from his driveway but died of his injuries Friday, reports WFLA. Police say Jackson took roughly two dozen guns, a TV, and Reiss' truck, which was found burned in Alabama. He has reportedly confessed to the killings, and he and Kenley Campbell and Darril Rankin have all been charged with first-degree murder and other offenses. As for the FEMA connection, the agency says two private-sector companies provide the subcontractors who handle damage assessments, noting, "Questions about individuals employed within those contracted companies, or those companies' hiring practices, must be pursued through their individual contractors."