Port Charlotte, FL: Vicious Murders Of Six Remains Unsolved....
Slimpickins
Murder case turns 10
Probe into six brutal slayings in North Port/Port Charlotte stalls
posted 12/14/01
FILE PHOTO
On Dec. 19, 1991, Sarasota County authorities remove one of four bodies from
the Villegas home on Chamberlain Boulevard in North Port.
By MICHAEL WERNER
The investigators can't forget the murders. Men in masks stormed two homes
and executed six people, three of them children.
Ten years later, one of the most brutal crimes in Southwest Florida history
remains unsolved.
Investigators have strong theories about what happened that night, but say
they don't have the evidence they need to prosecute the case.
One tip, one confession, one piece of evidence could help push the
investigation over the hump and into the courtroom, they intimate. But it
hasn't come.
Despite boxes of evidence, hundreds of tips and more than 300 interviews
conducted by several investigators, another year has slipped away. The
reality, the investigators acknowledge, is that memories are fading and
leads are growing colder.
"It's very frustrating having a strong feeling that you know who's
responsible, but not being able to charge them," said Charlotte County
sheriff's Capt. Mike Gandy. "But that gives you the drive to keep going and
not want to stop."
According to police reports, someone broke into the Port Charlotte home of
Paul Stasny, 71, and his wife, Rita, 69, after midnight on Dec. 19, 1991.
The assailants shot the couple and ransacked their Frisco Terrace home,
stealing various items, including liquor and guns.
Around 2:30 a.m. the killers broke into the Villegas family's North Port
home, about 31/2 miles from the Stasny residence. Noises awoke Luis
Villegas, and he told his wife to call 911.
Donna Villegas escaped through a rear door while the killers went
room-to-room, shooting Luis Villegas and his four stepchildren -- Revonda
Peay, 13, Billy Ray Hall Jr., 11, Jawantis Peay, 9, and Richard Peay, 8.
Only Jawantis Peay survived.
"It was one of the worst crime scenes I've ever seen," said North Port
Police Lt. Robert Estrada, a 20-year veteran law officer. He was one of the
first to arrive at the Villegas house.
"I've always wondered who they are and why would they do this to kids,"
Estrada said.
A task force comprising members of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office,
the North Port Police Department and the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement and investigators from the state attorney's office for the 12th
and 20th judicial circuits was assembled in the days after the slayings.
Tacked to the wall at its headquarters, as if to watch over the
investigation, were photos of the six victims. "Why we're here," said a sign
posted near the photos.
The Stasnys had moved to Port Charlotte 11 years before the murders. Paul
Stasny was a retired carpenter who had received a Purple Heart in World War
II. Rita Stasny had been a welder and sales clerk. They led quiet,
middle-class lives in a remote area and had no apparent enemies, according
to relatives and investigators.
"I ask the question every day, why do bad things happen to good people?"
said Melanie Bonjour, the Stasnys' daughter. "Were they too kind to the
wrong people, or ignorant of people who were trying to fool them?"
The Villegases lived in a small concrete-block home in the 3400 block of
Chamberlain Boulevard.
Donna Villegas and her family had moved from Charlotte, N.C., to North Port
about a year before the murders. She had worked as a nursing assistant at
the Life Care Center of Punta Gorda, a nursing home. Luis Villegas had
worked as a cook at the Quality Health Care Center in North Port.
Donna Villegas and Jawantis Peay still live in the house where the murders
occurred. But the memories are too difficult to recount.
"I don't even talk about it. Neither does my son," said Villegas over the
barks of two Rottweilers, which spring to life when visitors knock.
Investigators talk cryptically about the case, preserving the finer details
for a court date they hope will someday come. The case remains open. There
is no statute of limitations for homicides.
Task force members and attorneys from the 12th and 20th judicial districts
reviewed the case files in 1996 and 1997. The attorneys decided there was
not enough evidence to take the case before a grand jury.
The investigators explored whether Luis Villegas' work as a guard at
Hillsborough Correctional Institution played a role in the slayings. State
prison records show that Villegas was disciplined twice for abusing inmates
while working as a guard from November 1981 to 1984.
They also looked at whether a squabble with Luis Villega's relatives over an
inheritance might have motivated the killers.
Both leads were exhausted.
As investigators grilled witnesses, a recurring story emerged. The same
names and information kept coming up, but prosecutors and investigators
wanted physical evidence to corroborate the stories.
"Unfortunately, some of the testimony has changed and that doesn't sit well
with prosecutors," FDLE special agent Jim Myers said. "We need something to
add validity to the people we interviewed."
Investigators say they believe the killings were committed by the same men.
One of the strongest theories is that the killings were drug-related.
The killers were probably young men under the influence of drugs or alcohol
when they committed the crimes, investigators said. Luis Villegas appears to
have been the primary target, and the Stasnys may have been murdered to
mislead the authorities.
Another theory is that the two homes were similar enough in size, color and
location that the killers broke into the Stasny home by mistake.
Or, the investigators conceded, the killings may have been random.
Investigators have zeroed in on suspects. They no longer live in the area,
but many of the people interviewed during the investigation still do.
Investigators occasionally pay them visits, hoping to glean new information
that may put the case to rest.
"In our own minds, we know who's responsible," Myers said. "But having a
suspect and having a case you can win in court are completely different. We
just haven't reached that crossroads."
The task force no longer exists, but the case continues to be reviewed.
Officials and relatives cling to the hope that someone will come forward
with information that will solve the case.
"There are people out there that could help us, but have chosen not to. They
know who they are," Gandy said. "Some of the people who have knowledge were
quite young, but it's 10 years later. It's time to grow up and develop a
conscience."
Investigators believe the rifles stolen from the Stasny home could play a
key role in solving the homicides. The guns are World War II-era German
"drilling" rifles -- double-barreled shotguns with a rifle underbarrel. They
could prove critical in connecting people to the murders.
Myers hopes the $10,000 reward offered by FDLE will entice someone to come
forward.
"If we have to wait and keep reviewing till the cows come home, we will,"
Myers said. "It's a solvable case, but we need some help to do it."
cochra...@gmail.com
This case is solved.
Timeline Dec. 19,1991: Paul and Rita Stasny killed in Port Charlotte. Fla. Four members of Luis Villegas' family murdered in North Port, Fla. Dec. 2002: Jeremy Sly confesses to killing Stasnys. March, 2007: Sly charged with two counts of murder Dec. 19, 2011: Sly charged with four counts of murder in Villegas case Dec. 21, 2011: Sly sentenced to six consecutive life terms in prison