Sclesky takes life sentence in Hernando, Citrus double-murder case

Duane Sclesky’s decision to accept a no-contest plea brought a long Hernando and Citrus County murder case to a hard stop: two concurrent life sentences and no chance at the death penalty. For prosecutors, the deal ended a capital case without the uncertainty of a trial, appeals or a possible retrial.

The plea resolved the killings of Kenneth Zickendrath and Jamie MacDonald, whose deaths tied together two neighboring counties and stretched a missing-person investigation into a double-homicide prosecution. MacDonald was reported missing on May 12, 2024, and investigators later found her body in a creek in Homosassa, while Zickendrath’s body was discovered north of State Road 50 in Hernando County between U.S. 41 and U.S. 98.

The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office and Citrus County Sheriff’s Office worked the case together, tracing it through bank activity that authorities said included the use of both victims’ accounts. Investigators said MacDonald’s credit card was used at ATMs and other locations in both counties, a trail that helped connect the disappearance to the deaths. Luequita Sclesky was first arrested on fraud charges, and Duane Sclesky was initially booked on traffic and drug offenses before homicide charges followed.

Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhuis said investigators did not have evidence that the couple initially targeted the victims with the intent to kill. Still, the case moved steadily from a missing-person report into one of the region’s most serious violent-crime prosecutions, with the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office handling the case across county lines.

For the families of MacDonald and Zickendrath, the plea ends more than a year of waiting for a courtroom resolution. A life sentence cannot undo the loss, but it does bring finality to a case that forced law enforcement, prosecutors and residents in both Hernando and Citrus counties to follow the same grim path from disappearance to conviction.