He did not plan on killing him; it just sort of turned out that way.  They met early in the afternoon on Tuesday, April 16, 1996 at Cox Lumber Yard, located in Punta Gorda, (Charlotte County) Florida.  As they drove in his station wagon along U.S. 41, a forested area far from the commercial strips, they discussed the photo shoot and financial arrangements.  Again, he explained that he wanted the young man to pose for naked photographs to use in a magazine article.  All said and agreed upon, they were soon traveling down lonely dirt roads leading into dense woodland, barely accessable by common transportation. 

Aerial view of the murder location

Once satisfied that he had found a secluded area, they pulled over and exited the vehicle.  They were soon making their way deep into the woods, an ominously striking atmosphere with oaks and maples towering high above them.  The sounds of nature adding to the peacefulness of the hog trail that they were now making their way down.

Eventually, settling upon a majestic fore ground, the men came to a stop.  "Have you ever had pictures of yourself taken in bondage?" the man now holding a camera asked

"No," came the quick nervous reply. 

"Well here let me show you," the man said as he set the camera down on a nearby log.  In no time, the photographer had his subject nude, bound by his hands around a tree, and was clicking erratic photos, his sexual excitement ever growing.  It was now he decided, he had to fulfill his twisted fantasy, and he had come this far already.  He quickly produced a length of rope and walked behind the tree; he draped the rope around his subject's neck and placed his foot on the tree for leverage.  As he pulled, he could feel his victim struggling and hear him crying out in short raspy breaths.  "Die you son-of-a-bitch! Die!" He shouted, as he pulled tighter on the rope.  Eventually, his subject remained motionless, the struggling had ceased.... He was dead.

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Punta Gorda, Florida is located approximately100 miles south of Tampa on the Gulf Coast.  Founded in 1887, Punta Gorda is the only city in Charlotte County with a population of 12,500 people.  The name Punta Gorda is Spanish and translates to "fat point;" so named because a broad part of the land in Punta Gorda juts into Charlotte Harbor. 

Money Magazine once described this historic town as the "second best area in the United States in which to live." Charlotte County's crime rate is 60 percent below the national average.  All this said, no one in northern Charlotte County were prepared for the terror and dread that was about to clutch the city of Punta Gorda.