HOLIDAY -- Housesitting may have cost Robert Dean his life.

Dean was staying at his landlord's Flora Avenue home on Aug. 27, the same night that three men showed up hoping to find a stash of drugs, a Pasco County detective said.

Dean scuffled with the men in the driveway, authorities said, and was killed by a single gunshot to the head.

Three months after Dean's killing, Pasco County sheriff's detectives say they have solved the case.

On Thursday, detectives announced the arrest of the three men.

Arrested were: John Edward Oyer, 20, of 2041 Pleasure Drive, Holiday; his brother, Glen William Oyer, 21, of 2012 32nd Ave. N., St. Petersburg and Ronald Willis Spaulding, 22, of 37210 U.S. 19, Palm Harbor. All three have been charged with first-degree murder.

Dean, 35, was a local handyman and a father of five girls. He lived at 4245 Flora Ave. in a small house in back of his landlord's home.

"He was a good man," said his mother-in-law, 65-year-old Katena Hiou, who is raising Dean's daughters. "Why? Why did they do it? He left five little girls."

Although his daughters lived with their grandmother before the tragedy, Dean worked hard to support them. He loved taking them to the beach and bike riding. Hiou said he would frequently stop by the house at night to kiss his daughters good night.

The landlord, Terry Nelson, asked Dean to house-sit on Aug. 27 so he could travel to a car race in another state.

At 2:35 a.m., the Oyer brothers and Spaulding drove to Nelson's Flora Avenue home to "rob him of drugs that are known to be in his home," said Pasco detective William Moe.

They went to the door and an unknown man -- detectives won't say who -- opened the door and started to argue with the trio.

The men walked away and met with Dean, who had heard a commotion and walked outside. In the driveway, Dean and one of the men "started to get physical," said detectives, and one of the men struck Dean in the head.

Glen Oyer told detectives that he heard a shot, then ran to the car.

Pasco County sheriff's officials won't say who pulled the trigger, but a report said Glen Oyer was charged with first-degree murder because he was involved in the robbery that led to Dean's death.

Hiou said Dean was like a son to her, and both she and his five girls have had a difficult time coping with his death.

"I cried for three months," she said.

Detectives found the murder weapon, a .38-caliber revolver, in a body of water near Moog Road on Thursday.

Authorities wouldn't say what evidence -- or who -- led them to the three men. John Oyer and Spaulding were held in the Pinellas County jail on unrelated charges when they were charged with murder by Pasco authorities. In October, the two men threw beer bottles at a Pinellas County deputy in Palm Harbor; the deputy fired a shot at the pair's moving car in response, authorities said. No one was hit by the bullet, officials said.

All three men charged Thursday have criminal histories, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement records:

John Oyer is facing charges of criminal mischief, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, throwing a deadly missile and petty theft stemming from the October incident in Palm Harbor. He also was charged with a violation of probation-burglary out of Collier County.

Glen Oyer has previous arrests for failure to appear, driving while intoxicated, driving with a suspended license and disorderly intoxication convictions.

Ronald Spaulding is awaiting charges on fleeing and eluding police, driving without a valid license, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage and violating his probation in Collier County on a dealing in stolen property charge. He was previously arrested on charges of dealing in stolen property, larceny, theft and loitering.

Spaulding and John Oyer were held without bail at the Pinellas County jail in Clearwater. Glen Oyer was held without bail at the Pasco County jail in Land O'Lakes.