The girl said a man tied up her and her friend, forced them to take drugs, raped her and then murdered her 16-year-old friend.

By Frank StanfieldGateHouse Media Florida

TAVARES, Fla. — A girl who survived a house of horrors in Bushnell over the weekend said a man tied up her and her friend, forced them to take drugs, raped her and then killed her 16-year-old friend.

The girl told Tavares police that her friend, Aleaya Marie Jackson, and a man named “Larry” picked her up in his car at Wooton Park at 4:10 p.m. Saturday after talking to them on her phone.

Police are searching for Larry Peavy, 35. They found his car in Fort Pierce on Tuesday.

The girl told police she remembers seeing the number 308 on a mailbox in Bushnell.

“[She] advised she was drugged because Larry forced ecstasy tablets down her throat. [She] said her memory of the incident fades in and out after her arrival at the home due to Larry strangling her to an unconscious state several times throughout the night,” according to a court document obtained by the Daily Commercial.

She said he forced the pills down her throat after she drank alcohol and smoked marijuana. During the night, he kept asking her for sex. He offered to pay, but she refused.

Eventually he told the girls they could sleep in a separate bedroom. The girls locked the door “because he was high and acting weird.” But during the night he came into the room and tried to put tape over her mouth. She said she kicked him and woke up Jackson, who tried to talk Peavy into leaving the room.

Peavy began fighting with the girls, overpowered them, and bound and gagged Jackson.

She said she started yelling for help until he struck her and put a box cutter to her throat. She said he then “hogtied” Jackson and strangled her until she lost consciousness.

The girl said he then took her into his bedroom and raped her for hours while drinking and popping pills.

Sometime Sunday morning, she talked him into taking her to her house so she could get money to buy drugs. When they got near her apartment complex, she jumped out and ran away. She told her mother what happened, and she called police and an ambulance.

A police sergeant noted ligature marks on her neck, arms and legs and a black eye. The teen recalled that Jackson had been tied up but did not see her when they left. She was able to remember a long Wi-Fi encryption number from the house.

Tavares police called the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, who sent a deputy to 308 South Pine St., where they picked up the Wi-Fi signal. The landlord let them go inside, and it was then that they found Jackson’s body.

“A green cord was located around the victim’s mouth and neck and was wrapped twice and then attached to her feet by another ligature. The black tape was so tight around the victim’s mouth and neck that it appeared to create skin folds on the back of the victim’s neck.”

Her right wrist and ankles were tied with what appeared to be bed sheets. The killer tried to clean up the scene, and bed sheets were found in a trash bin outside.

The Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that the cause of death was ligature strangulation and that it was a homicide.

Anyone with information about Peavy can call Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477) or the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office at 352-793-2621.

Peavy was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison in 2014 on charges of resisting a law enforcement officer with violence, battery on an officer, possession of cannabis with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to Lake County court records. He was jailed in 2007 for giving a fake identification to an officer.

The Mason Jar restaurant on State Road 19 in Umatilla is donating a portion of its proceeds on Nov. 15 to Jackson’s family. Her mother, Nycole Jackson, and her grandmother, Dawn Weaver, “are dedicated employees,” according to a posting on Facebook.

“Grandmother Weaver has been a loyal server … for 20-plus years.”

Jackson’s mother told WFTV the family was searching for answers.

“Why? Why?”

She said her daughter and “Uncle Larry” were close and said, “I can’t imagine the betrayal she must have felt.”

Frank Stanfield is a reporter for the Leesburg (Fla.) Daily Commercial.