- March 5, 2025
As an infant, Leonard Lynn was found lying in a ditch by a couple that was out for a walk. He was alone and malnourished, and the couple took him home and fed him.
“It sounds like untrue, like a story in a book,” his son, Chad Lynn said. “My father was someone who had a hard life, but you’d never know it. He looked for the good; he didn’t dwell on the bad.”
Chad Lynn has always tried to follow his father’s example, but doing so has been more difficult lately. Two weeks ago, those close to Leonard Lynn grew worried when they didn’t hear from him for several days. Leonard Lynn called his children frequently and was a fixture at his church. His silence was ominous. His family requested that police check in on him at his home in Palm Coast.
That was when they started piecing together the final moments of his father’s life. On May 29, Leonard Lynn went to visit a friend who was having a hard time. For three hours, they sat outside and talked. Then, Lynn left to attend a Wednesday evening church service at Evangel Assembly. He went straight home afterward. It was about 8 p.m.
At some point that evening, Lynn got into an argument with Erick Elom Niemi, the man to whom Lynn rented a room in his house. Lynn was found dead in his home two days later. A medical examiner ruled his death the result of blunt force trauma. Niemi was found shortly afterward, in Lynn’s car, and confessed to killing his landlord.
“My dad’s life was full of some unbelievable, terrible circumstances,” Chad Lynn said. “There were a few instances where he had to forgive, and he did. Then, he pushed through and moved on. He got better instead of bitter. And he taught me that lesson, too. With everything that happened, I wouldn’t be able to handle it — it’s hard enough — I wouldn’t be able to handle it if I got bitter.”
Chad Lynn and others who knew Leonard Lynn are trying to remember him as the man he was, not the way he died. And the most important thing about Leonard Lynn was his faith.
“All he wanted to do was talk about Jesus,” said Diane Thomas, administrative secretary and music minister at Evangel Assembly, where Lynn attended church. Every service, he would stand up and give a testimony about how God was providing for him in some way.”
Lynn had only recently begun attending church at Evangel, because he lived in Jacksonville before moving to Palm Coast. Already, he was known throughout the congregation. In addition to working as a greeter before services, he was quick to volunteer for anything, down to cleaning the church’s toilets.
Lynn was about to be made an official member of the church — the pastor had his membership certificate ready for the next service —when he died.
Chad Lynn, a pastor himself, said his family members became deeply immersed in their faith after they moved to Florida decades ago. Originally from Michigan, the Lynns moved south for a new start after being financially ruined. Leonard Lynn had sold his construction company to a man he knew from golfing, who then did some work, never paid the subcontractors and fled (he was later arrested in Arizona).
Lynn’s name was still connected to the business, so the family sold its large, custom-built home and drained its savings account to recover. They came to Florida with nothing. Chad Lynn was 18. When he came to Florida, his faith — and his family’s as well — became more fervent, despite the circumstances for the move.
Through all this, Leonard Lynn wasn’t one to complain. He only recently told his son about some of the hardships of his life, and for that reason, certain details of Leonard Lynn’s life are vague.
But that’s the point, Chad Lynn said. His father didn’t let those hardships define him or foster anger within him. Instead, he lived a life of service, faith and love. His wife died several years before he did. He is survived by his three children: Jill, Steve and Chad.
“My dad had a passion for life, and for work,” Chad Lynn said. “He had a good attitude as he went through things, and by doing that, things got better.”
