DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Jean Macean, the man accused of brutally murdering a married couple during Bike Week 2022, has been ruled competent to stand trial by a judge. Macean was the subject of a days-long manhunt following what has been described as one of the grizzliest murders in the recent history of Volusia County.
Brenda and Terry Aultman had just left a Bike Week event in March 2022 when police say they ran into Macean. The couple were bicycling home on North Wild Olive Ave, when Macean is said to have stabbed both of them to death. For several days law enforcement frantically tracked the perpetrator of the murders, leading to Macean's arrest in Orlando.
The developments since Macean's arrest a year and a half ago have been hectic. Police say Macean, a Haitian national, confessed to the murders while speaking with detectives following his arrest. Then, in June 2023, Macean was deemed incompetent to stand trial pending psychiatric in-patient treatment for the next 90 days. He was reported to have had brain trauma and hallucinations of dead family members. Now, Macean is officially cleared to answer for his charges.
Macean was arrested and charged in Orange County in 2019 on unrelated drug charges, but the charges were dropped by then-State Attorney Aramis Alaya.
It was confirmed last year that the state would be seeking the death penalty for Macean, an unsurprising decision given the mass intrigue and outrage when the murders occurred. Little is known even to this day about the suspected potential motives of the brutal killings, Macean's reason for reportedly being in Daytona, or the potential mental state he'd have been in if the things he's accused of are true.
