[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Last Wednesday, just before Thanksgiving, the residents of Tampa, Florida were given one last thing to be thankful for — police had a suspect in custody for the grisly murder and dismemberment of Stephanie Crone-Overholts. And now that the arrest affidavit has been made public, there should be a lot less doubt in the minds of Floridians.
When a leg and other as yet unidentified body parts were found by fishermen on November 11, police kicked into high gear to investigate. Through the release of a photo of a distinctive tattoo featuring the names “Sean and Greg and Zach” with hearts, the Pennsylvania native’s family were able to identify her quickly — especially as they’d already filed a missing persons report on her.
After learning the identity of the murder victim, police tracked down her last known address, a home in Lutz (an area about 15 miles north of Tampa) owned by Robert Kessler. He told police the same thing he told the press: he had met Crone-Overholts in a McDonald’s parking lot, and learned she was living in her car. He offered her a place to stay, and she moved in with him and his daughter for a few weeks.
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However, he told the media he had to ask her to leave due to her personal problems. He told police he came home on November 5, and she was gone and he didn’t know where she went. Those statements don’t necessarily contradict one another — but what Kessler was rubbing up against was the other evidence. See, police checked his cell phone data, and it showed he and Crone-Overholts were using the same cell tower that night. Not only that, her final call was to his number.
Kessler’s 8-year-old daughter didn’t help him with her statement to police. She told investigators her father had received several calls from Crone-Overholts on November 5, while he was at her gymnastics class with her. She also claimed the last time she saw her housemate — of just one week, btw — was that night. She said Crone-Overholts was asking her father for $200, and the two got into an argument. Her father told her to go to bed, and that was the last time she saw the woman.
The next morning, her dad told her the 47-year-old had been picked up by a boyfriend. According to his daughter, Kessler threw away some of the woman’s belongings and put others into the trunk of her car. Then two days later, on November 7, he drove the car away — he said to return it to Crone-Overholts.
But surveillance video showed a man who looked like Kessler driving a similar car into a parking lot, opening all the doors and trunk, and removing a bag. Kessler’s cell data showed he was in the same area as the lot, the 2200 block of E Bearss Avenue in Lutz. Not only that, two witnesses said they were fishing in McKay Bay that day — about a 20 minute drive from Lutz — when they heard splashes in the water. When they looked for the source, they saw a man throwing a bag into the water. That man matched Kessler’s description, and the car he was driving matched Crone-Overholts’ vehicle. Later police were able to corroborate the witnesses’ testimony with Port of Tampa surveillance footage.
Two days after that, another witness said he was paddling in the area when he saw a man dumping bins into the water. He paddled to the bins, he told investigators, but did not open them because the smell was so bad. Investigators were able to find the bins based on the witness’ account and locate what was left of the victim. An autopsy showed stab wounds, including defensive wounds; the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office were able to definitively declare the death a homicide.
Naturally all this led to the police getting a search warrant for Kessler’s home and vehicles. They found blood in both — and linked it to Crone-Overholts through DNA. There may even have been blood in Kessler’s young daughter’s room — he told police he had recently redecorated it and installed new carpet. The police had seen and heard enough — they made the arrest, charging Kessler with second-degree murder and abuse of a dead body.
The Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office is asking that Kessler be held without bail. A hearing on Wednesday will determine whether he is allowed to post bail and leave — and see his daughter.
[Image via FOX13/YouTube/Tampa Police Department.]
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