Manhunt continues in Gilchrist County

Multiple law enforcement agencies are engaged in a manhunt in Gilchrist County after an unidentified person fled authorities who were seeking two other wanted men. 

According to a Gilchrist County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) press statement issued Thursday, deputies received a a tip that Cody Dave Dover of Lake City and Samuel David Dover of Jacksonville—both of whom had active felony warrants for their arrest—were present at a business in Trenton. When deputies arrived, the two men fled on foot with a third, unidentified subject.

The GCSO deputies quickly apprehended Cody Dover, but Samuel Dover and the third person escaped into a nearby wooded area. Multiple law enforcement agencies engaged in an “extensive search of the Trenton area,” according to GCSO.

“Several hours later, Samuel Dover was seen fleeing on the Greenway Trail, west of Trenton Elementary School,” GCSO reported. “Department of Corrections and GCSO tracking dogs were utilized to determine the subject’s direction of travel and he was later apprehended in the residential area near the intersection of County Road 307 and 307A.”

 Deputies arrested Cody Dover and Samuel Dover on both the outstanding warrants, which are from another county, and new, local charges. 

Meantime, the search for the third person, still unidentified, continued into Thursday. “We are grateful for the timely and professional assistance from Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission officers, and tracking K9 handlers from the Florida Department of Corrections, Cross City Correctional Institution, and investigators from the Union County Sheriff’s Office,” the GSCO statement said.