Wilton Manors double murder trial opens By Rafael Olmeda South Florida Sun-Sentinel Nov 17, 2017 at 4:30 pm Peter Avsenew faces the death penalty if convicted of first degree murder in. Suspicious of his behavior and worried that her son might harm her, Jeanne Avsenew testified that she had him turned in. In the subsequent trial, the jury listened to Otts testimony and, after deliberating for a while, found Patti Donahue James guilty of first-degree murder in 1988. A Broward jury has again convicted a man whose first double-murder conviction and death sentence were overturned on appeal. Bridgette Matter joined the Local 10 News team as a reporter in July 2021. I met the families of Kevin Powell and Stephen Adams at their memorial service. The prosecution claimed during the trial that Avsenew used the couple's credit cards and was found in possession of their car. Where Is Casandra Laster Now? In her plot to kill her husband, Patti involved her lover, Timothy Ott. Privacy Policy | Terms of Website Use, Controversial Witness in Murder of Wilton Manors Couple Dies Before Retrial. Homosexuals are a disgrace to mankind and must be put down. The ratio of all residents to sex offenders in Wilton Manors is 1,796 to 1. November 21, 2022 / 5:55 PM / CBS Miami FORT LAUDERDALE -- A man who has been convicted and sentenced to die twice in the 2010 slayings of a Wilton Manors couple is asking for a third trial,. The judge also ordered that she had to serve a minimum of 25 years to be eligible for parole. Timothy Ott told police that on March 24, Patti (who he believed to be Demi) brought her husband, Bernard, to Otts apartment. Eventually police did relocate key evidence, including fingerprints and physical evidence that was sent to a lab for testing earlier this year. Please enter valid email address to continue. Last year, all Wilton Manors homicide cases, including Annas, were transferred to the Broward County Sheriffs Office, which has more resources. Peter Avsenew was found guilty in 2017 for the 2010 murders of Kevin Powell, 52, and Stephen Adams, 47, in Wilton Manors. For Wilton Manors, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Sunday marks 40 years since Anna Marie Mullin was murdered in Wilton Manors. I want to thank our Wilton Manors Police Department, as well as the Broward Sheriffs Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Polk County Sheriffs Office and State Attorney Mike Satz office for their efforts to bring this guy to justice. All rights reserved. Read More: How Did Dallen Bounds Die? The Knights sold their home on Hickory Hill Road in Wilton for about $1 million in March 2010 and moved to California. Timothy had never met T.J. in real life but knew her only through phone calls. The Florida Supreme Court overturned the 2017 conviction partly because Avsenew's since-deceased mother testified against him via a video monitor and the judges found he was not able to face his accuser in person. Avsenew, now 37, met the two men through personal advertising on Craigslist seeking an older established male partner who could take care of him.. WILTON MANORS Jeanne Avsenew, whose testimony helped put her son on Florida's death row four years ago, died last week in Polk County, throwing a wrench into plans to retry Peter Avsenew for. We cannot overstate the harmful effect of this testimony having come from not just anyone, but defendant Avsenews own mother, the court wrote. Schaffer had been a police officer in Wilton Manors, a Fort Lauderdale suburb, and was a deputy with the Martin County Sheriff's Office at the time Poole disappeared, Springer said. Before moving to South Florida, she began her career in South Bend, Indiana and spent six years in Jacksonville as a reporter and weekend anchor. Thursday morning he read a statement to the jury which read in part, "I have no regrets in my life and I am proud of every decision I ever made. Her family traveled back to Florida to remember her and sit down with police for a case update. Peter Avsenew was originally found guilty in 2017 for the 2010 murders of Kevin Powell, 52, and Stephen Adams, 47, in Wilton Manors. It was higher than in 84.9% U.S. cities. After telling police her story about a robbery gone wrong, she changed her story and told police that Timothy Ott, whom she knew only through telephone conversations, was the one who killed her husband. Mullins sister Fran Kubes turned to Local 10 crime specialist Bridgette Matter in November 2021 to push for answers in her sisters murder case. Violent offenses tracked included rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. When no one answered the phone at their Wilton Manors home, she called the police, who found the mens bodies. Prosecutors then cut a deal with him where in return for pleading guilty to lesser charges of second-degree murder, Timothy would have to testify against Patti in her trial. Patti then introduced a problem in T.J.s life and told Ott that T.J.s ex-husband had just gotten visitation rights to her three children. He showed no emotion when the jury's decision was announced. The 22-year-old had been beaten, raped and murdered. Detectives released the sketch of a murder suspect and they are asking the public for help with solving a cold case in Wilton Manors. Peter Avsenew, 33, the man accused of the 2010 murder of Wilton Manors couple Stephen Adams, 52, and Kevin Powell, 47, was found guilty Thursday, the Sun Sentinel reported. At the time of the murder, Bernard was 37 years old and was a well-respected community member. Later, Ott told the police that he and T.J. also talked about marrying and settling down. Jump to a detailed profile, search site with google or try advanced search. The 2020 Wilton Manors crime rate fell by 16% compared to 2019. / CBS Miami. If you need help with the Public File, call (954) 364-2526. ClickADu Following a downturn in property values in the. Local 10 soon learned some of the evidence has been misplaced possibly lost. But Peter Avsenew was already a suspect by the time his mother turned him in. Prosecutors argued that Peter Avsenew stayed with the victims at their Wilton Manors home after they placed a sexually suggestive ad on the website Craigslist in late 2010. FORT LAUDERDALE -- A man who has been convicted and sentenced to die twice in the 2010 slayings of a Wilton Manors couple has been granted a new penalty phase trial. The defendant was granted a new trial earlier this year by the Florida Supreme Court, which found that the jury should never have heard his mothers recorded testimony because she was not in the same room with him and could not see him when she testified. Avsenew, now 37 and an inmate at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, allegedly met the couple through Craigs List and moved in with them weeks prior to the killing. Wilton Manors is in the 43rd percentile for safety, meaning 57% of cities are safer and 43% of cities are more dangerous. Kubes says this is the closest her family has ever been to finding justice for her sister. She said she searched his computer and found he was a person of interest in the murders. The new jury may hear little of that, if any, and it wont be coming from her. In a motion filed on April 22, the attorneys asked that her testimony be precluded from the pending trial, citing that the Florida Supreme Court deemed that it constituted harmful error.. WILTON MANORS, Fla. - Detectives and a family desperate for closure released the sketch of a murder suspect, and they are asking the public for help with solving a cold case in Wilton. The sister of one of the two men murdered in Wilton Manors on Christmas weekend says the killings were a hate crime. Their car and credit cards were missing, according to the evidence. The Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling Thursday granting Avsenew, 37, a new trial in the Christmas 2010 murders of Stephen Adams and Kevin Powell, a Wilton Manors couple who took him in after . Violent crime is composed of four offenses: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Kubes traveled from out of state to Wilton Manors to remember her sister and meet with police. A follow-up email laid out the crucial evidence was found in a Wilton Manors Police evidence vault. His attorney stated that they did not kill Adams and Powell, but discovered their bodies and then stole their credit cards and car. Jeanne Avsenew. Rafael Olmeda may be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457. The only reasonable scenario is that Peter Avsenew killed those men in their home just before Christmas Eve," she said. BidVertiser Her recorded testimony already has been ruled inadmissible, and the testimony she gave in person at his sentencing hearing did not cover the same ground as her trial testimony. Wilton Manors police took Mullins case back over while still partnering with the Broward County Sheriffs Office. In 1982, the 22-year-old Mullin had gone out to a local Wilton Manors bar. WILTON MANORS, Fla. - Sunday marks 40 years since Anna Marie Mullin was murdered in Wilton Manors. Michael Mitchell, 38, faces murder and arson charges in the . Suspect Held in Manors Slaying a Petty Criminal with Long Record. Wilton Manors police say they have located critical evidence in the case of Anna Marie Mullin, including fingerprints and physical evidence that was swabbed for DNA and sent out for testing. Jeanne Avsenew died of cancer earlier this month and was a key witness against her son, Peter, in his first trial in the murders of Steve Adams and Kevin Powell.. Mullin was seen leaving a bar called The Caboose with a man less than a mile from the Wilton Manors Police Department on Nov. 6, 1982. Ott fell for T.J. and began having feelings for her. Avsenew claimed that he came home and found the couple dead and fled in a panic. But that generosity was forever ended 36 years ago when Mullin's body was found on the front steps of St. Clement's Catholic Church in Wilton Manors. The mother of a man on trial for the murder of a Wilton Manors couple has died, adding to an already complicated case. Kubes reached out to Local 10 News for help last year after an investigation uncovered some of the evidence in the case was misplaced. In the last 5 years Wilton Manors has seen increasing violent crime and decline of property crime. The first time Patti was produced in court, the jury was hung, and thus the judge was forced to declare it a mistrial. He earned his living as a state park ranger and had no idea that his life would be snuffed out in such a cruel way. Their brutally beaten and bullet-riddled bodies were discovered just before Christmas. Robert Malcolm Rimmer, convicted of first-degree murder for the execution-style murders of two Wilton Manors stereo store employees during a robbery, had a message almost a year ago for the. If you need help with the Public File, call (954) 364-2526. Your chance of being a victim of murder in Wilton Manors may be as high as 1 in 21,374 in the west neighborhoods, or as low as 1 in 30,508 in the northeast part of the city. Rafael Olmeda is a reporter for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. [Prosecutors] want you to convict and kill Peter Avsenew, he shouted in court. A $10,000 reward still stands for any helpful information in the case. After pronouncing him dead, the police further examined his body to find that the park ranger sustained blunt object injuries consistent with a baseball bat. She was somebody who mattered to us. Ott only realized that he had been duped by Patti, and that she was both Demi and T.J., after he had been implicated in the murder. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. If you need help with the Public File, call (954) 364-2526. The park ranger immediately slumped over, but Ott then strangled Bernard twice, with a wire and a clothesline to confirm the kill. During his death row sentencing in 2017, he told the court he had no regrets and Im proud of every decision Ive ever made. According to the Sun Sentinel, he scratched his head with his middle finger and explained that he was not giving the finger to the jury, but to the families of the victims. Avsenew's mother turned him in to authorities after he made suspicious statements to her. Prev; Our community can be assured that our good work continues now and into the future., Manors Double Gay Murder Case Goes to Jury, Gay Couple Are Murder Victims in Manors Double Homicide, Families of Wilton Manors Murdered Couple Still Waiting for Answers, Guilty Verdict in 2010 Wilton Manors Double Murder, 2520 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors, FL 33305. BidVertiser Follow him on Twitter @rolmeda. ", Avsenew expressed similar sentiments at a Spencer hearing in June, saying "I wholeheartedly have nothing to lose and I'm going to take it out on everybody I can.". Avsenews mother was fighting cancer when she testified that Peter came to visit her in Polk County after the murders, driving the slain couples SUV and behaving strangely. Jury selection is scheduled to start in early May. Carollo Takes Stand in Ball & Chain Trial, Accuses Witnesses of Lying Under Oath, Miami Juror in Historic Death Penalty TrialExplains Life in Prison Verdict, Florida Principal Resigns After Sending $100K to Scammer Posing as Elon Musk, Check Your Change! Police determined the couple was murdered two days before Christmas. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 4. January 11, 2018 / 2:59 PM According to the Wilton Manors Police Department, Avsenew shot Adams nine times in the head, shot Powell twice in the head and beat him with a blunt object. "There was blood inside the car by the center console, there was clear trauma to the right side of the victim's head. We believe the killer murdered Stephen and Kevin because they were gay, Blocker said during a city commission meeting. The Wilton Manors Police Department is now offering up to $5,000 for a total of up to $10,000 in reward money for information leading to an arrest. Marci Craig, the sister of Adams, told SFGN back in 2013 that she was scheduled to pick them up from the airport in Ohio for a visit, but they never showed up. Her case quickly turned cold. The ruling came down from the Florida Supreme Court Thursday, after taking issue with the fact that a witness testified virtually. When law enforcement questioned Patti James, she said that she and her husband had just returned home when she saw a man approach her husband outside their house. Avsenew had been taken in by the couple and was later turned in by his mother and captured in Polk County. They were just really kindhearted, always getting involved with helping people., Avsenews defense attorney claimed that he did not kill the couple, but found them dead and stole their credit cards and car, Local 10 reports. Peter was a new roommate to the couple weeks before their murder and they reportedly met through Craigs List. Avsenew could get life in prison or he could be returned to death row. Privacy Policy | Terms of Website Use, Avsenew Found Guilty in Wilton Manors Double Murder Trial. It adjusts for the number of visitors and daily workers commuting into cities.
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