Colton John Wright, 24, of Covington, Indiana, was found dead in room 319 of the Hyatt Place on University Parkway in Sarasota on December 9, 2021. A housekeeping supervisor discovered him lying in a pool of blood; an autopsy determined a single gunshot wound to the face severed his spinal cord and caused instant paralysis, and his family called the death senseless and tragic.

Investigators focused on Colton’s ex-partner, Brennan Wakey, after hotel surveillance showed Wakey leaving through a side exit about 3 a.m. pulling a black suitcase and with a gun tucked into his waistband. Deleted thumbnail photos from Colton’s phone showed Wakey in the room holding a gun minutes earlier. At Wakey’s father’s home in Port Charlotte officers found Colton’s cellphone and laptop and a red shirt and dark blue jeans soaking alone in a washing machine; the firearm was not recovered.

Wakey was arrested on charges of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence, released on bond in March 2022, and tried. In January 2026 a jury convicted him of manslaughter with a firearm and tampering with evidence; he was taken into custody after the verdict and was awaiting sentencing. Does anyone have information about Colton’s last hours at the hotel or the people he was with that night?