Deputies: Sex on Interstate 95 in Nassau County escalates to assault with gun

Investigators: Man, woman followed couple watching them have sex in SUV

YULEE, Fla. – A couple seen having sex while driving on Interstate 95 followed a couple in another car who was watching them, eventually pulling a gun during a confrontation at a business, according to the Nassau County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies said Louis Carr was in a car with his girlfriend and 3-year-old son driving north on I-95 at the Airport Road exit about 3:30 p.m. Sunday. They had left the Jaguars game early, and that's when they say they saw Suzanne Welker giving Ernest Gonzales oral sex while Gonzales was driving a SUV.

"I pointed to my old lady. She looked across me about that time, she jumped up in the seat bare butt, mooned us through the window," Carr said of the suspect.

While the couple was watching the suspects, they said Welker was trying to climb Gonzales' lap, and she was naked and could be seen clearly by everyone in the area, deputies said.

Carr and his girlfriend, Kristin Broughman, were watching from the other car, and Broughman rolled down her window when Gonzales noticed them looking, deputies said. They said Gonzales then slowed and got behind their car and followed Carr to his mother's bar in Yulee, tailgating him and trying to pass for about 10 miles.

"I called my mom ahead of time and told her as soon as I realized they were following me down 95 to Pecan Park (Road) and to Main Street," Carr said. "They followed us all the way, and I called my mom and was like, 'These people are following me,' and she was like, 'Well, bring them straight to the bar.'"

As Carr turned on his blinker to turn left into Reni's Redneck Yacht Club on U.S. Highway 17, Gonzales pulled into the opposing lane of traffic trying to prevent Carr from turning, deputies said. They said Gonzales tried running him off the road and into the guardrail.

Carr was able to maneuver around Gonzales and into the parking lot, and when they came to a stop, Gonzales got out of his SUV and approached Carr in a threatening manner, deputies said. According to witnesses, Welker got out of the SUV and was standing in the passenger-side doorway with a silver, semiautomatic handgun down to her side, deputies said.

"We didn't think they were going to pull all the way in because they stopped at the gate, and then I guess they decided they were still going to come in," Broughman said. "And they came all the way in. That's when the cops were called and everything went crazy."

According to Carr and Broughman, the suspects thought they had taken pictures of them having sex, but they hadn't.

A woman at the business told deputies that when she heard Welker had a gun, she walked toward her and told her they did not need guns at the place of business. Deputies said the woman then backed away.

Other witnesses said that when they told the suspects they were calling the police, the suspects got back into their van and fled the scene.

Deputies went to the Fernandina Beach home where the license plate was registered, and the suspects were arrested and booked into the Nassau County jail.

Deputies said the handgun was found in the glove box of the suspects' SUV as described by witnesses.

Gonzales is an assistant golf pro at the Golf Club of Amelia Island, and Welker is an ambassador for the Amelia Island Chamber of Commerce.

"It's crazy," Carr said. "I mean, they're really high up there and everybody knows them, so it sucks for their (reputation), but they should do that stuff behind closed doors. I mean, who knows who else has seen it. I'm sure we're not the only ones."

Able to laugh about it now, Carr and Broughman are thankful the situation didn't come to a more serious end.

"If it was just us and we had stopped at the store and they stopped at the store and they were with us, it wouldn't have went the way it went here," Broughman said. "Here they were probably scared because they saw all the people."

Carr said his 3-year-old son saw everything too and is still talking about it.

"They had clear glass windows," Carr said. "What do you expect. There's a place and time for that, and it's not driving down the interstate doing 70 (mph)."

Gonzales and Welker are charged with indecent exposure and aggravated assault.