By Kim Wilmath, Times Staff Writer
Friday, September 24, 2010
BRANDON — Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies issued a warrant for a fifth suspect in the May killing of a man who was stabbed, beaten, set ablaze and left dead in a trash bin.
Months after 26-year-old Robert Brewer died, deputies want to charge Randy Allen Morris, 34, with kidnapping and first degree murder.
It's not clear how investigators think Morris was involved.
Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter said Morris was there the night of the murder, and detectives have been looking into Morris throughout the course of the investigation. But it was only recently that investigators received information that confirmed his connection.
Carter did not elaborate.
Deputies say Morris has a transient lifestyle, works on-and-off and is known to stay in the Brandon area.
Heres what deputies said happened on May 3:
Brewer, of Valrico, met three men at the Westfield Brandon Mall. David Link II, Brendan Terry and Kasey Ackerman brought Brewer back to the apartment the three shared at 201 Brandon Manor Court to take painkillers and Xanax.
They'd never met Brewer before.
Later that night, Ackerman and Terry, both 20, stabbed and beat Brewer, tossed him in a trash bin outside, poured gasoline on him and set him on fire.
Brewer's remains were discovered the next morning. Investigators identified him by his dental records.
Terry and Ackerman were charged with first-degree murder. Link and his mother, Rosanna Dimauro, who deputies said helped clean up the blood, were charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder.
Link was sentenced earlier this month to almost three years in state prison. The three others remain behind bars without bail, awaiting trial.
Deputies said they issued the fifth warrant after the State Attorney's Office considered all the evidence. What specifically links Morris is not yet known.
Mark Cox, a State Attorney's Office spokesman, would not comment on the case.
Deputies ask that anyone with information on Morris' whereabouts call detectives at 813-247-8200 or Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay at 1-800-873-8477.
According to state records, Morris has been arrested eight times in Florida, on charges including trespassing, soliciting on the edge of the road and petty theft.
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