Post by CCADP on Aug 15, 2005 6:30:01 GMT -5
Man Faces Hearing In Teen's Death
Florida Department of Corrections No. 185563.
Behind that number is the face of Phillup Alan Partin. Convicted killer.
When people see him in court these days, they often comment about his
eyes. Hazel, piercing eyes that send chills up spines.
18 years after being convicted of 2nd-degree murder in Miami, he's behind
bars again. This time he's in the Land O' Lakes jail, charged with
1st-degree murder in the slaying of 16-year-old Joshan Ashbrook 3 years
ago.
A pretrial hearing is set for Monday.
Aug. 1 marked the 3rd anniversary of the discovery of Ashbrook's body in
woods off Shady Hills Road. Her 130- pound frame was clad in a black bra
and striped sleeveless shirt.
Her body was cut and bruised. Her throat slashed. The gaping wound was
nearly 4 inches long, the autopsy report said.
Cause of death: blunt head and neck trauma. Manner of death: homicide.
Partin's name came up quickly as a potential suspect, court records show.
The mother of Ashbrook's boyfriend told detectives the girl telephoned
then stopped by moments later on the day before her body was found.
Detectives retrieved the number from the woman's caller ID and traced it
to a cell phone.
At some point, sheriff's Detective Lisa Ann Mazza called it and a man
answered, according to her deposition filed in Pasco Circuit Court.
Asked his name, he said it was Phillip Thompson. Mazza asked about
Ashbrook. The man said he gave a girl a ride and let her use his phone,
the deposition said.
Mazza tried to set up a meeting to talk about the girl. He told her he was
"kind of a transient," so it was difficult for him to meet, according to
the deposition.
Homeless, Hustler, Killer
Years earlier, Partin also didn't really have a place to call home.
In fall of 1987, he slipped into a gay bar on Miami's Biscayne Boulevard
with a plan.
Partin had made it his routine for nine to 10 months to frequent places
like the Cactus Lounge so he could have a place to sleep. To shower.
"It's a hustler lounge," Partin, then 22, later told a Miami detective.
"It's for where the gay people go to pick up tricks. ..."
"Are you a hustler?" the detective asked.
"Yes," Partin replied.
As he played pool one night in late September or early October, he noticed
an older man watching him. Gary Thorne eventually asked Partin for a game,
then invited him to a Fort Lauderdale bar.
They stopped at Thorne's house so he could let his cat inside.
Partin laid down on a bed, his feet on the floor. When Thorne touched him
intimately, Partin told him to stop.
Thorne then told Partin it was too late to go to the bar.
"I got up to go and he stood up and he put one hand on each of my
shoulders and he tried to kiss me," Partin told the detective. 'That's
when I grabbed him by his shoulders and spun him around and grabbed him by
his neck. I spun and flipped him onto the bed."
The 2 men - both about 5-foot-7 - tumbled off the bed, Partin landing on
top.
"I started letting go and he made noise like he was screaming," Partin
told the detective. ``So I tightened up again and told him to be quiet.
"And then somehow I got to the other side of the bed and I reached for the
phone and, you know, I was holding him with one arm and I reached for the
phone with the other arm and ... I grabbed the cord and put it around his
neck and I held it with one hand and I reached with my other hand and I
pulled it you know, just so he doesn't say anything, doesn't holler. I
just wanted for him to be quiet and then I let go because he wasn't moving
or anything, and I let go and he didn't move or say nothing."
"How many times did you wrap it around his neck?" the detective asked.
"About 2, maybe 3," Partin said. "I'm not sure. Tight."
Partin was convicted of 2nd-degree murder and sentenced to 17 years in
prison on March 31, 1989.
In years to come, Florida prisons became so crowded that inmates were
given generous gain time, cutting many sentences by 2/3. Partin earned an
additional 1,370 days off for good behavior, according to the Department
of Corrections. He was released Aug. 1, 1995.
One Last Search
7 years to the day later, Ashbrook's body was discovered by electric
company employees. She was a frequent runaway, and her family already was
searching for her.
Investigators think Partin picked up Joshan on U.S. 19, not far from her
home on Sheelin Drive in New Port Richey.
What happened in the years between Partin's release from prison and his
October 2003 arrest in North Carolina in the Ashbrook case is unclear.
Records show numerous addresses in Florida, California and North Carolina
and one in Michigan.
Partin, now 40, declined to be interviewed for this story.
"No interest in talking to people who spread lies and propaganda," he
scrolled in the margin of the request. "Do not contact me again."
A nearly 8-year marriage to Gloria Hurtado, 4 years his senior, ended 7
months before he re-entered society.
"It was very bad for me," Hurtado, who lives in Miami, said recently.
Other than saying he never hurt her physically, she declined further
comment.
Less than 2 months after his prison release, Partin married Heather Ann
Gillooley, 6 years his junior. It ended July 15, 1997, a year after a Polk
County circuit judge issued a protective order against Partin, records
state.
Later in 1996, another woman won a protective order against him.
Partin was arrested that year in Polk County on charges of sexual assault
and battery, records state. Those charges later were dropped.
By 2002, Partin wanted to move from North Carolina to Florida after
another troubled relationship with a woman.
Fred Kaufman had met Partin, nicknamed "Sonny," in prison nearly 20 years
ago, so when Partin asked for a place to stay, Kaufman didn't hesitate.
Kaufman agreed to let Partin and his 7-year-old daughter stay at Kaufman's
Port Richey home, as long as the other man got a job, according to a
deposition.
Kaufman cleaned and painted a room in his modest house at 7425 Buchanan
Drive before Partin's arrival in mid- July 2002.
It's where investigators think Partin killed Ashbrook.
Partin's daughter, a search warrant shows, told detectives that on July 31
her father picked up a hitchhiker who matched Ashbrook's description. The
3 played video games and watched television all day in that bedroom.
Later, blood found on the floor and walls was matched with Ashbrook's DNA,
according to court records. By that time, Partin already had gone, leaving
his daughter behind.
Weeks later, Partin asked Kaufman to deliver the child to a Wal-Mart in
Polk County. The men then took her to the home of another Partin friend
and dropped her off for safekeeping, Kaufman's June deposition states.
Until that day, Partin had denied any involvement in Ashbrook's slaying.
But as the 2 men drove back to Wal-Mart, Kaufman asked again.
"I said, `Did you kill this girl,' and he said, 'Yeah.'" "I was driving in
a tunnel of just like unbelievable that this is even happening.
"And he went on to tell me that he hog-tied her and slashed her throat,
and how the blood - how much blood came out of her and splashed on his
shoes, and her shoes, or something. ... And there was blood in the truck,
and how she begged for her life."
The conversation continued about 10 minutes, Kaufman said in his
deposition.
"What really threw me was when he said there was another one in the works.
I'm like - I got my hand on the wheel going, I'm driving with a serial
killer."
Partin hasn't been charged in any other slayings.
Since being extradited to Pasco County, Partin has had three defense
attorneys, stalling his case. Often, he's boisterous in the courtroom.
If Partin is convicted, prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty.
During a disagreement with his first attorney, Keith Hammond, in April
2004, Partin told a judge he didn't want any deals for life in prison
instead of death by lethal injection.
"I've got a tattoo on my back. It says, 'Live free or die,'" Partin told
the judge. "Either you people kill me or you people send me back to the
streets."
(source: Tampa Tribune)
Florida Department of Corrections No. 185563.
Behind that number is the face of Phillup Alan Partin. Convicted killer.
When people see him in court these days, they often comment about his
eyes. Hazel, piercing eyes that send chills up spines.
18 years after being convicted of 2nd-degree murder in Miami, he's behind
bars again. This time he's in the Land O' Lakes jail, charged with
1st-degree murder in the slaying of 16-year-old Joshan Ashbrook 3 years
ago.
A pretrial hearing is set for Monday.
Aug. 1 marked the 3rd anniversary of the discovery of Ashbrook's body in
woods off Shady Hills Road. Her 130- pound frame was clad in a black bra
and striped sleeveless shirt.
Her body was cut and bruised. Her throat slashed. The gaping wound was
nearly 4 inches long, the autopsy report said.
Cause of death: blunt head and neck trauma. Manner of death: homicide.
Partin's name came up quickly as a potential suspect, court records show.
The mother of Ashbrook's boyfriend told detectives the girl telephoned
then stopped by moments later on the day before her body was found.
Detectives retrieved the number from the woman's caller ID and traced it
to a cell phone.
At some point, sheriff's Detective Lisa Ann Mazza called it and a man
answered, according to her deposition filed in Pasco Circuit Court.
Asked his name, he said it was Phillip Thompson. Mazza asked about
Ashbrook. The man said he gave a girl a ride and let her use his phone,
the deposition said.
Mazza tried to set up a meeting to talk about the girl. He told her he was
"kind of a transient," so it was difficult for him to meet, according to
the deposition.
Homeless, Hustler, Killer
Years earlier, Partin also didn't really have a place to call home.
In fall of 1987, he slipped into a gay bar on Miami's Biscayne Boulevard
with a plan.
Partin had made it his routine for nine to 10 months to frequent places
like the Cactus Lounge so he could have a place to sleep. To shower.
"It's a hustler lounge," Partin, then 22, later told a Miami detective.
"It's for where the gay people go to pick up tricks. ..."
"Are you a hustler?" the detective asked.
"Yes," Partin replied.
As he played pool one night in late September or early October, he noticed
an older man watching him. Gary Thorne eventually asked Partin for a game,
then invited him to a Fort Lauderdale bar.
They stopped at Thorne's house so he could let his cat inside.
Partin laid down on a bed, his feet on the floor. When Thorne touched him
intimately, Partin told him to stop.
Thorne then told Partin it was too late to go to the bar.
"I got up to go and he stood up and he put one hand on each of my
shoulders and he tried to kiss me," Partin told the detective. 'That's
when I grabbed him by his shoulders and spun him around and grabbed him by
his neck. I spun and flipped him onto the bed."
The 2 men - both about 5-foot-7 - tumbled off the bed, Partin landing on
top.
"I started letting go and he made noise like he was screaming," Partin
told the detective. ``So I tightened up again and told him to be quiet.
"And then somehow I got to the other side of the bed and I reached for the
phone and, you know, I was holding him with one arm and I reached for the
phone with the other arm and ... I grabbed the cord and put it around his
neck and I held it with one hand and I reached with my other hand and I
pulled it you know, just so he doesn't say anything, doesn't holler. I
just wanted for him to be quiet and then I let go because he wasn't moving
or anything, and I let go and he didn't move or say nothing."
"How many times did you wrap it around his neck?" the detective asked.
"About 2, maybe 3," Partin said. "I'm not sure. Tight."
Partin was convicted of 2nd-degree murder and sentenced to 17 years in
prison on March 31, 1989.
In years to come, Florida prisons became so crowded that inmates were
given generous gain time, cutting many sentences by 2/3. Partin earned an
additional 1,370 days off for good behavior, according to the Department
of Corrections. He was released Aug. 1, 1995.
One Last Search
7 years to the day later, Ashbrook's body was discovered by electric
company employees. She was a frequent runaway, and her family already was
searching for her.
Investigators think Partin picked up Joshan on U.S. 19, not far from her
home on Sheelin Drive in New Port Richey.
What happened in the years between Partin's release from prison and his
October 2003 arrest in North Carolina in the Ashbrook case is unclear.
Records show numerous addresses in Florida, California and North Carolina
and one in Michigan.
Partin, now 40, declined to be interviewed for this story.
"No interest in talking to people who spread lies and propaganda," he
scrolled in the margin of the request. "Do not contact me again."
A nearly 8-year marriage to Gloria Hurtado, 4 years his senior, ended 7
months before he re-entered society.
"It was very bad for me," Hurtado, who lives in Miami, said recently.
Other than saying he never hurt her physically, she declined further
comment.
Less than 2 months after his prison release, Partin married Heather Ann
Gillooley, 6 years his junior. It ended July 15, 1997, a year after a Polk
County circuit judge issued a protective order against Partin, records
state.
Later in 1996, another woman won a protective order against him.
Partin was arrested that year in Polk County on charges of sexual assault
and battery, records state. Those charges later were dropped.
By 2002, Partin wanted to move from North Carolina to Florida after
another troubled relationship with a woman.
Fred Kaufman had met Partin, nicknamed "Sonny," in prison nearly 20 years
ago, so when Partin asked for a place to stay, Kaufman didn't hesitate.
Kaufman agreed to let Partin and his 7-year-old daughter stay at Kaufman's
Port Richey home, as long as the other man got a job, according to a
deposition.
Kaufman cleaned and painted a room in his modest house at 7425 Buchanan
Drive before Partin's arrival in mid- July 2002.
It's where investigators think Partin killed Ashbrook.
Partin's daughter, a search warrant shows, told detectives that on July 31
her father picked up a hitchhiker who matched Ashbrook's description. The
3 played video games and watched television all day in that bedroom.
Later, blood found on the floor and walls was matched with Ashbrook's DNA,
according to court records. By that time, Partin already had gone, leaving
his daughter behind.
Weeks later, Partin asked Kaufman to deliver the child to a Wal-Mart in
Polk County. The men then took her to the home of another Partin friend
and dropped her off for safekeeping, Kaufman's June deposition states.
Until that day, Partin had denied any involvement in Ashbrook's slaying.
But as the 2 men drove back to Wal-Mart, Kaufman asked again.
"I said, `Did you kill this girl,' and he said, 'Yeah.'" "I was driving in
a tunnel of just like unbelievable that this is even happening.
"And he went on to tell me that he hog-tied her and slashed her throat,
and how the blood - how much blood came out of her and splashed on his
shoes, and her shoes, or something. ... And there was blood in the truck,
and how she begged for her life."
The conversation continued about 10 minutes, Kaufman said in his
deposition.
"What really threw me was when he said there was another one in the works.
I'm like - I got my hand on the wheel going, I'm driving with a serial
killer."
Partin hasn't been charged in any other slayings.
Since being extradited to Pasco County, Partin has had three defense
attorneys, stalling his case. Often, he's boisterous in the courtroom.
If Partin is convicted, prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty.
During a disagreement with his first attorney, Keith Hammond, in April
2004, Partin told a judge he didn't want any deals for life in prison
instead of death by lethal injection.
"I've got a tattoo on my back. It says, 'Live free or die,'" Partin told
the judge. "Either you people kill me or you people send me back to the
streets."
(source: Tampa Tribune)