Man kills father-in-law, returns days later and pretends to find body, FL cops say

A man called 911 to report he had found his father-in-law dead during a welfare check after not being able to get in touch with him, Florida authorities said.

But investigators believe the son-in-law killed him days earlier.

David Nemyier, 43, has now been indicted on a charge of first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm, the State Attorney’s Office for the Fifth Judicial Circuit announced April 30.

McClatchy News reached out to Nemyier’s attorney for comment May 1 but did not immediately receive a response.

The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office said deputies showed up to the Crystal River home April 11 to find 67-year-old Kyle Pazian dead from a gunshot wound to the head, according to an arrest report.

Based on evidence, it looked as if someone had shot Pazian while he was standing upright, then he collapsed onto the couch, investigators said.

But the medical staff who conducted his autopsy found that Pazian appeared to have died two days earlier, on April 9, according to the affidavit.

Nemyier’s wife reported none of them had been home since April 9, deputies said.

Investigators said they spoke with Nemyier and his wife, who were living along with their son at Pazian’s home. Nemyier reportedly told them that Pazian owed a drug dealer money, suggesting the dealer killed him.

Nemyier’s wife said that on April 9 she woke up on the floor next to her bed while her husband was at his restaurant job and felt a bump on her head, then she got into an argument with her father, deputies wrote in the affidavit.

She called her husband’s boss and her husband, who left work to pick her up, but before he went he told his boss that if Pazian had hurt his wife, he was “going to kill him,” the boss told authorities.

Nemyier picked up his wife, who had left the house on foot, according to the affidavit. She said they drove back to the home, and Nemyier went inside to grab a couple things while she waited in the car. They left and didn’t come back for two days, the wife recounted.

But what investigators only learned when Nemyier’s wife volunteered herself for a second interview was that after Nemyier went inside the house that day, he came out and told his wife, “It’s done,” according to the affidavit.

His wife asked him if her dad was OK, but her husband responded, “He’s dead,” the woman told investigators.

The two drove back to the restaurant where Nemyier worked, and surveillance footage shows Nemyier park behind the dumpster, get out and change his shirt, deputies said.

The next day, a manager of the restaurant found a bullet by the dumpster, deputies said. Investigators never found any bullets or shell casings near Pazian’s body, according to the affidavit.

On April 13, Nemyier’s wife called investigators to speak to them again, and Nemyier was arrested that day, deputies said.

Pazian’s friends and family remembered him as an avid angler who loved his dog, Max.

“Kyle had a passion for life and lived it to the fullest,” his family wrote in his obituary. “He was an avid Buffalo Bills fan, a talented artist, fisherman and a lover of the outdoors and dogs. His love for fishing was evident to all who knew him, and he found solace and joy in spending time by the water, casting his line with his assistant Max.”

Prosecutors said Nemyier remains in custody without bond.

Crystal River is about a 90-mile drive northwest from Orlando.

This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 4:42 PM with the headline "Man kills father-in-law, returns days later and pretends to find body, FL cops say."