South Florida man accused of fatally beating golfer with club on course

PALM BEACH GARDENS – A West Palm Beach man is accused of beating a 65-year-old man to death with a golf club, choking him on the first hole of a public golf course and holding his head in a pond, the police said.

Junior Boucher, 36, faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of Brian Hiltebeitel at Sandhill Crane Golf Club Monday afternoon.

Boucher is being held at the Palm Beach Jail after being medically cleared at Gardens Medical Center.

“I truly believe I was a victim of witchcraft,” Boucher said of his first court appearance.

A judge ordered him held without bail on Tuesday.

“This appears to be a random act of violence in which Boucher used the victim’s golf clubs as weapons and viciously attacked her, ultimately killing her. At this time, it does not appear that Boucher had any legitimate purpose for being on the golf course.” Palm Beach Gardens Police Chief Dominick Pape said.

On Monday at 1:22 p.m., police responded to multiple 911 calls about a man attacking another man with a golf club.

They went to the first pit near a body of water where they found Hiltebeitel motionless.

Boucher fled the scene and was captured after using an electronic control weapon, also known as a Taser, police said.

Detectives met with a witness who said he was golfing the first hole with two other people when they heard a man scream.

They then found the victim running away from the suspect. The witness told officers the suspect was holding a golf club and swinging it at the victim.

The witness told them Hiltebeitel was yelling “trying to kill me” several times. At some point, both men fell to the ground and Boucher began hitting Hiltebeitel several times with the golf club, according to the witness.

After they broke up, Boucher grabbed another golf club and chased Hiltebeitel toward the pond again, the witness said.

“Boucher continued to hit Hiltebritel (misspelled) in the head repeatedly with the golf club until they reached the pond,” according to the police report. “Once in the water, Boucher jumped over Hiltebritel and appeared to choke him. Boucher then got off the motionless Hiltebritel and picked up a golf club and hit him repeatedly in the head.”

After that, Boucher got out of the water and took off his clothes as he walked, the witness said.

The witness identified him as the one who attacked the victim.

Other people witnessed the attack, police said.

Officers pulled Hiltebeitel from the water. He had deep wounds on the back of his head and elsewhere on his body. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Palm Beach Gardens Fire Department.

WPEC, a CBS affiliate, previously reported that Boucher in 2022 tried to drown and gouge out the eyes of a police K-9 used to apprehend him.

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