FL - Manhunt in Tampa after 4 slayings in 5 weeks, Oct-Nov 2017 #2 *Arrest*

[cujenn81]

Local here. The neighborhood is definitely the "haves" and the "have nots" living side by side. This is the last part of SH to be gentrified, and still quite rough. I wouldn't have walked around there by myself at night even before this was going on.

On a related note, there is someone posting in this FB group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/SeminoleHeightsKillerTheories/) who has been interviewed by police several times, says he is being followed, gave them his phone data, etc. I believe he is considered a suspect at this point by LE. It caused a big stir in this FB group when someone threw his name out as a suspect. Many came to his defense/he's a well known and well liked member of the community.

A few reasons he is probably under investigation (these are all details he has given in the group):
- He lives about a block from the first murder.
- He is a Lyft driver and is out in the neighborhood at all hours of the night. Knows the area very well.
- Here's the real kicker: he drives an ex-cop car, wanted to be a cop but couldn't pass background check. Maybe I watch too many crime shows but I know sometimes this is characteristic of criminals.
- Lastly, he has very much inserted himself into the investigation. He is openly posting his theories about who he thinks the killer is. Quite a few people are wondering why he is drawing so much attention to himself when he is being accused of the crime.

The thing is, he does not match perp description (not as tall/thin/light skinned as eyewitness description and videos). But I think at the very least he knows something which is why police won't leave him alone.

Interesting. I think I read an article from a local news outlet who had interviewed this guy because he refuses to stop offering Lyft services even though LE repeatedly stops and searches him. He said a cop asked him one night if he had noticed the 20+ officers that had been trailing him all night. The officer explained why they needed to stop anyone who was seen driving around the neighborhood alone all night. (I think LE also implied that he should cut back on his Lyft service until they catch this guy—or at least in that neighborhood—but the guy said he needed the extra money to pay his bills.) I wouldn’t think very many people in that neighborhood would be using a service like Lyft, especially late at night, with a killer on the loose. At least, I know I wouldn’t be. I would revert back to using a standard taxi service before using a service like Lyft or Uber, if anything. So, how much extra income can he really be making right now? If the cops keep seeing him driving around alone, he’s clearly not picking up a lot of riders anyway.

 

[neotec]

Interesting. I read that she had severe injuries to her chest ? I recall it because it reminded me of the wording used to describe Missy Bevar's injuries ( Missy's thread is here). Strange. jmo

It said "upper body trauma" but apparently it isnt unusual to refer to fatal gunshots like that prior to an MEs report

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[neotec]

Yes, I'm saying maybe he and the accomplice planned this from the start.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Its possible that multiple kills was never the plan and after the first the attention felt good and he (they) kept going. With each one comes more motivation and notoriety. I hate to say it but, the reactions of LE and locals almost encourage and challenge him to keep going. Things like the mayor saying "bring me his head" etc. make it personal for whoever this is, so his motive may have changed to a more retaliatory one.
I agree with there being a possibility of multiple offenders and the eye witness account of skin color potentially being inaccurate. LE has stated a few times that they have info that we do not know about...so remember that whatever they say publicily could be crafted specifically to stir up something within the offender in order to get a response. More so now, then earlier on.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[SeesSeas]

Interesting. I think I read an article from a local news outlet who had interviewed this guy because he refuses to stop offering Lyft services even though LE repeatedly stops and searches him. He said a cop asked him one night if he had noticed the 20+ officers that had been trailing him all night. The officer explained why they needed to stop anyone who was seen driving around the neighborhood alone all night. (I think LE also implied that he should cut back on his Lyft service until they catch this guy—or at least in that neighborhood—but the guy said he needed the extra money to pay his bills.) I wouldn’t think very many people in that neighborhood would be using a service like Lyft, especially late at night, with a killer on the loose. At least, I know I wouldn’t be. I would revert back to using a standard taxi service before using a service like Lyft or Uber, if anything. So, how much extra income can he really be making right now? If the cops keep seeing him driving around alone, he’s clearly not picking up a lot of riders anyway.

I also wonder about how many Lyft rides he provides during this fearful time.
Perhaps because I am frugal, it seems odd to me that he "[FONT=&amp]drives in his neighborhood throughout the night" (gasoline $ cost)[/FONT], rather than parking somewhere on standby while he waits for a call for Lyft service.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/s...ll-continue-driving-at-night-despite-searches
snips:
Houston says he also primarily drives in his neighborhood throughout the night because that's where he feels comfortable.
Houston said last night, police pulled him over again after he completed a drive for Lyft, around midnight.
Houston said he was told he was being tailed.
In fact, he hopes his regular nighttime drives for Lyft will help spot something or someone who seems out of place or suspicious.

 

[tampasleuther]

I also wonder about how many Lyft rides he provides during this fearful time.
Perhaps because I am frugal, it seems odd to me that he "[FONT=&amp]drives in his neighborhood throughout the night" (gasoline $ cost)[/FONT], rather than parking somewhere on standby while he waits for a call for Lyft service.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/s...ll-continue-driving-at-night-despite-searches
snips:
Houston says he also primarily drives in his neighborhood throughout the night because that's where he feels comfortable.
Houston said last night, police pulled him over again after he completed a drive for Lyft, around midnight.
Houston said he was told he was being tailed.
In fact, he hopes his regular nighttime drives for Lyft will help spot something or someone who seems out of place or suspicious.

Perhaps he’s watching the cops as much as they’re watching him. Could figure out how they are positioned, which streets have the highest presence, shift changes, etc. by cruising the neighborhood all night. He wouldn’t need to go far to get out of the neighborhood and likely get more business.

In the FB group he uses words like he’s “patrolling” the neighborhood, I noticed someone called him an honorary cop on his own profile. The self-appointed, wannabe cop thing gives me pause...right down to the police car he drives. Not to mention it would have been a smart way to get around undetected before they zeroed in on him.

On the other hand, when I watch him in that news story, he comes across as so “normal” and just a nice dude. So maybe he really is an upstanding citizen just looking out for his hood. But I’ve also seen some speculation that whoever is involved is someone the community would never suspect.

 

[dotr]

Ironic that the victims have been targeted because they are walking alone and distracted looking at cell phones, meanwhile the killer gets to walk around alone looking at his phone.Does he enjoy having a " freedom " denied to everyone else who wants to be safe?
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/11/2...olice-hunt-killer-behind-4-tampa-murders.html

"He’s becoming, for the first time in his life, important. He’ll be in the headlines and maybe even on the cover of a magazine," said Levin. "He grew up feeling a profound sense of powerlessness and is now the focal point of conversations all over the country."

"From the killer’s point of view, it’s a tremendous accomplishment."
- Dr. Jack Levin, professor emeritus at Northeastern University
​

"All the victims have been alone and possibly distracted when the murders occurred," said Eddy Durkin, a spokesman for the Tampa Police Department. "There's a similar pattern."

Levin said the Tampa suspect does not fit the profile of most serial killers -- and noted similarities between the killer and the two D.C. snipers who terrorized the Washington area with a series of coordinated shootings that killed 10 people during three weeks in October 2002.

"Using a firearm is something most serial killers don’t do," he said. "Most use sex as a vehicle for securing power and control and dominance over their victims

Levin also said the Florida suspect lacks a sophistication seen among most serial killers by leaving the victim's body so that it can be immediately found

.

"They don’t get caught by a perfect profile or the tremendous investigative skills of the police or FBI. They make a mistake. They take more risks. They get bored," he said, noting that the Tampa suspect shot and killed his fourth victim with a witness nearby. "They feel superior and so they start to cut corners.

"We just have to hope that when he comes back for his fifth victim, he makes even more mistakes," Levin said.

rbbm.

 

[margarita25]

Ironic that the victims have been targeted because they are walking alone and distracted looking at cell phones, meanwhile the killer gets to walk around alone looking at his phone.Does he enjoy having a " freedom " denied to everyone else who wants to be safe?
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/11/2...olice-hunt-killer-behind-4-tampa-murders.html






.

rbbm.

From above:

""We just have to hope that when he comes back for his fifth victim, he makes even more mistakes," Levin said."

*I don't like this one bit.

 

[margarita25]

Cannot recall if this unsolved murder was posted yet or not, interesting that the teen victim was shot 5 times.
http://www.abcactionnews.com/homepage-showcase/tampa-police-investigate-shooting
Jun 19, 2017

rbbm

Hmmmmmmm.

In other cases here such as abductions we compare notes. It only feelings natural and constructive to do that here, even if the cases in NOCO are not linked, at least for educational and awareness purposes.

(Referring to the Northern Colorado Shootings in 2015 (aka: NOCO):

Again, the first fatality here in the NOCO shootings was John Jacoby. He was killed riding his bicycle on May 18, 2015 in Windsor, CO. (His murder was positively linked to an attempted murder of a driver who was shot in the neck with a .22 ( On April 22, approximately 11:15 p.m., Cori Romero reported she had been involved in a traffic ... determined that Ms. Romero had been shot in the neck with a firearm while she was driving.)

*interesting to note that these are two totally different scenarios linked (female driver on a highway, male bicyclist out in the small town country...)

Info from the FBI Most wanted poster for John:
JOHN JACOBY
Murder Victim
Windsor, Colorado
May 18, 2015
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seeking-info/john-jacoby

Details:
On May 18, 2015, at approximately 10:15 a.m., 47-year-old John Jacoby was riding his bicycle (with a small trailer attached) on Weld County Road 15, north of the town of Windsor, Colorado, when he was shot two times by an unknown assailant about two miles north of Main Street. He died at the scene shortly thereafter.

It has been determined that this incident is related to another shooting which occurred in nearby Fort Collins, Colorado, on April 22, 2015. In that incident, two rounds were fired at a female driver at approximately 11:15 p.m. near the intersection of Harmony Road and the southbound I-25 on-ramp. The victim survived the attack after sustaining a gunshot wound to the neck."

*************
Third victim was a pedestrian (not forensically linked bUT suspected). A shotgun was used in his murder. William Connole. Grandfather. (I visited the location this week and have some new thoughts, mainly re: "it's all about the exit route").

"Authorities are interested in speaking with anyone who may have been in the area of 1st Street and St. Louis Avenue in Loveland about 10:50 p.m. Wednesday when 65-year-old William Roger Connole, Jr. was fatally shot."
https://www.greeleytribune.com/news...y-shooting-two-others-likely-connected-video/

************


So, days of week/times of the NOCO shootings are:

Cori: Wednesday , 4/22/15 11:15pm
John: Monday 5/18/15 10:15 am
William: Wednesday 6/3/15 10:50 pm
(Motorcyclist shot at the same night earlier)
*other incidents of note , Banner Health, etc,


These shootings were _______ days apart as follows:
26 days between incidents 1 and 2 (need to double check math or refer back to thread, it's all there but good for me to revisit)
There were ___16___days between shootings 2 and 3. )
*need to double check math on the fly, it's on the threads)

Both CR and JJ were shot with 2 rounds, on Wednesday, night time. (Need to double check my facts again)

**********************

So, how many days apart were the Tampa killings?

 

[tomvansac]

I think it's likely the killer slips unnoticed into the various alleyways. For example, here is another abandoned alleyway very near the lot where M. Hoffa's body was found:

 

[Betty P]

I also wonder about how many Lyft rides he provides during this fearful time.
Perhaps because I am frugal, it seems odd to me that he "[FONT=&]drives in his neighborhood throughout the night" (gasoline $ cost)[/FONT], rather than parking somewhere on standby while he waits for a call for Lyft service.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/s...ll-continue-driving-at-night-despite-searches
snips:
Houston says he also primarily drives in his neighborhood throughout the night because that's where he feels comfortable.
Houston said last night, police pulled him over again after he completed a drive for Lyft, around midnight.
Houston said he was told he was being tailed.
In fact, he hopes his regular nighttime drives for Lyft will help spot something or someone who seems out of place or suspicious.

Serial killers (Ted Bundy, etc.) typically spend a lot of time cruising around, often putting many miles on their cars. They're not only looking for vulnerable victims, they're also looking for places to commit crimes, drop bodies as well as hiding places and escape routes to avoid LE. In a twisted way, it's part of their game, part of the "thrill", part of their fantasy life.

 

[Betty P]

Perhaps he’s watching the cops as much as they’re watching him. Could figure out how they are positioned, which streets have the highest presence, shift changes, etc. by cruising the neighborhood all night. He wouldn’t need to go far to get out of the neighborhood and likely get more business.

In the FB group he uses words like he’s “patrolling” the neighborhood, I noticed someone called him an honorary cop on his own profile. The self-appointed, wannabe cop thing gives me pause...right down to the police car he drives. Not to mention it would have been a smart way to get around undetected before they zeroed in on him.

On the other hand, when I watch him in that news story, he comes across as so “normal” and just a nice dude. So maybe he really is an upstanding citizen just looking out for his hood. But I’ve also seen some speculation that whoever is involved is someone the community would never suspect.

Does LE have mobile "command post" trucks in the area? If so, I'd be willing to guess they have a lot more cameras in this area (particularly in the alleys) than before. If the perp is monitoring LE activity, he's likely being monitored by them. One would think he's aware of this and is scaling back his activity. Then again, he may view it as a challenge, too.

 

[x_files]

yes, that makes sense. Having an Uber nearby may be how he escapes unseen.

That would be unreliable getaway car. But, who knows!

 

[x_files]

There are so many things about this that just remind me of scary movies ...........

Tampa has lots of lush overgrowth to duck into and hide.

 

[tampasleuther]

They have cleaned most (if not all?) of these alleys up since the first two murders, cut back the overgrowth. The Google Maps photos are old, so don't rely on those to gauge what the alleys currently look like.

The streets in general are quite dark. There are lots of mature trees that block the street lights. Between the thick, overgrown vegetation, alleys, and darkness, it's been the the perfect environment for slipping away undetected. This is why the cops have been asking people to install porch lights, to help brighten up the dark streets. They were even out there helping people set up lights last week, and I think they're even giving out lights. I'd imagine some people have put flood lights in their back yards, too, which would shine into the alleys.

I think it's likely the killer slips unnoticed into the various alleyways. For example, here is another abandoned alleyway very near the lot where M. Hoffa's body was found:

 

[tomvansac]

Thanks but the imagery date is January 2017. Do you know if this one has been cleaned up? Others have mentioned that many of these are still untouched.

They have cleaned most (if not all?) of these alleys up since the first two murders, cut back the overgrowth. The Google Maps photos are old, so don't rely on those to gauge what the alleys currently look like.

The streets in general are quite dark. There are lots of mature trees that block the street lights. Between the thick, overgrown vegetation, alleys, and darkness, it's been the the perfect environment for slipping away undetected. This is why the cops have been asking people to install porch lights, to help brighten up the dark streets. They were even out there helping people set up lights last week, and I think they're even giving out lights. I'd imagine some people have put flood lights in their back yards, too, which would shine into the alleys.

 

[tampasleuther]

They do have a command center set up. It's not right in the residential neighborhood, but right on the outskirts. I've heard chatter they've been putting cameras up at intersections. Between that and more residents installing cameras, it's gotta be really hard to get around without getting filmed.

Does LE have mobile "command post" trucks in the area? If so, I'd be willing to guess they have a lot more cameras in this area (particularly in the alleys) than before. If the perp is monitoring LE activity, he's likely being monitored by them. One would think he's aware of this and is scaling back his activity. Then again, he may view it as a challenge, too.

 

[tampasleuther]

I'm not sure. Did any locals confirm some haven't been touched yet? I haven't gotten the nerves to drive through the neighborhood and see what's going on, even though I live real close. We have the alleys in my neighborhood, too -- residents access them to get to driveways in the back of the house, so while they aren't as creepy and overgrown as these, it doesn't seem to slow down having prostitution and drug activity happen in them.

Here's a news story about it, they don't say which ones they have worked on though: http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/s...-alley-cleanups-in-southeast-seminole-heights

Thanks but the imagery date is January 2017. Do you know if this one has been cleaned up? Others have mentioned that many of these are still untouched.

 

[x_files]

What would an accomplice gain ?

like I get it in a bank robbery or something

Thrill Kills. Some people like to kill. Thrill Seekers. Psychopaths. It's hard for us to understand because we aren't psychopaths. Or both are Injustice Collector's feel the world owes them or are angry at the world.
If the shooter is filled with rage it doesn't show in his gait.

 

[dotr]

They have cleaned most (if not all?) of these alleys up since the first two murders, cut back the overgrowth. The Google Maps photos are old, so don't rely on those to gauge what the alleys currently look like.

The streets in general are quite dark. There are lots of mature trees that block the street lights. Between the thick, overgrown vegetation, alleys, and darkness, it's been the the perfect environment for slipping away undetected. This is why the cops have been asking people to install porch lights, to help brighten up the dark streets. They were even out there helping people set up lights last week, and I think they're even giving out lights. I'd imagine some people have put flood lights in their back yards, too, which would shine into the alleys.

Growing up every or almost every street had an alley behind the houses used by garbage trucks on garbage collection days.
The rest of the time kids used the alley as shortcuts to walk home from school and to play ect. wondering who might use the alleys in SH and why?

 

[x_files]

When the early cctv showed the person wearing a rain type coat, i assumed that was part of his murder " uniform ", a look that somehow made the suspect look that much creepier and other worldly.
On a practical level, it also looked like it was something to thrown on over other clothes and maybe easier to clean " afterward ".
Did they think about what outfit to wear ie. changing to a hoodie for the later murders, were they thoughtlessly just wearing everyday clothing, or does vanity play a role in what is worn to murder?
speculation, imo.

This type of jacket is popular in the hip-hip scene right now.