Tampa Murder

When Todd Barket applied for a job at a Florida nursing home, he likely didn't expect to end up on trial for first-degree murder. The 51-year-old was living in Tampa's suburbs until March, when there was a knock on the door of his beige stucco apartment complex. It was the police, and they had some questions.

Oscar Ray Bolin was first found guilty of murdering three women nearly 30 years ago. In the decades since, every one of the verdicts delivered by juries in three separate trials was reversed at least twice by appeals courts, although ultimately he was convicted again in each case: 10 times by 10 juries, to be exact.

Police say they believe 5-year-old Phoebe Jonchuck was alive when her father dropped her over a bridge railing, sending her into Florida's Tampa Bay.

The Tampa Palms neighbourhood here is the kind of place people move to get away from crime. Stucco homes with neatly trimmed lawns and spacious lanais nestle inside gated "villages" with names like Lancaster and Oxford Place. Real estate agents point out the proximity of "top notch" schools, the 18-hole golf course and other upscale amenities that ...

When Todd Barket applied for a job at a Florida nursing home, he likely didn't expect to end up on trial for first-degree murder. The 51-year-old was living in Tampa's suburbs until March, when there was a knock on the door of his beige stucco apartment complex. It was the police, and they had some questions.

Oscar Ray Bolin was first found guilty of murdering three women nearly 30 years ago. In the decades since, every one of the verdicts delivered by juries in three separate trials was reversed at least twice by appeals courts, although ultimately he was convicted again in each case: 10 times by 10 juries, to be exact.

Police say they believe 5-year-old Phoebe Jonchuck was alive when her father dropped her over a bridge railing, sending her into Florida's Tampa Bay.

The Tampa Palms neighbourhood here is the kind of place people move to get away from crime. Stucco homes with neatly trimmed lawns and spacious lanais nestle inside gated "villages" with names like Lancaster and Oxford Place. Real estate agents point out the proximity of "top notch" schools, the 18-hole golf course and other upscale amenities that ...