Tampa, FL: More Details Made Public in Grover Freeman' Murder Case...
Slimpickins
Gunshots popped fast in lawyer's bedroom
BRENNA R. KELLY
of The Tampa Tribune
On a quiet evening in May, Constance Freeman washed her faced in the
bathroom.
Her husband, Grover Cleveland Freeman, lounged on the water bed in their
Carrollwood home.
Then she heard noises. And voices.
``No, Kathy, no!'' Grover Freeman yelled as rapid gunshots rang out in the
master bedroom.
Sixteen bullets from a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol struck the 54-year-old
lawyer. Eight hit him in the legs, five in the chest and three in the left
arm.
Bullets punctured the bed, and water seeped through the upper floor of the
two-story house.
The gruesome details of Freeman's last minutes, and the disturbing events
that followed, are detailed in 268 pages of records released Tuesday by the
Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office.
The reports by sheriff's detectives document the case, step by step.
Except for the motive behind the six minutes of terror the night of May 15.
Freeman's ex-wife of four years, Katherine King Freeman, is in jail without
bail, charged with first-degree murder, the attempted murder of Constance
Freeman and armed burglary. The state wants the death penalty.
Constance Freeman, according to records, gave deputies this account of what
happened inside their home at 3113 Mossvale Lane:
When she heard the pop, pop, pop of gunshots, Constance Freeman ran and hid
in a closet in the bathroom.
But Katherine Freeman found her.
``You're next, bitch,'' Katherine Freeman said, yanking her by the hair as
she beat her on the head and body with a pistol.
Constance Freeman fought back, and the women wrestled into the bedroom and
onto a balcony. She bit Katherine Freeman on the face, and ran.
Constance Freeman, 50, ran to a next door neighbor's house, but no one
answered. She found help at a friend's house in the neighborhood. The friend
called 911 about 11:45 p.m.
About the same time, Grover Freeman also managed to call 911 before he died.
``Help, shot, help,'' Freeman told the operator. ``Help, shot, ex-wife ...
Help me ... Ah.''
Deputies began searching for Katherine Freeman, 41, arriving around midnight
at her home at 2815 Linthicum Place, less than a mile from her ex-husband's
home.
Katherine Freeman's stepmother, Jane King, went to wake her and found her
bed empty and untouched, King told deputies.
Deputies learned that earlier that night, King, Katherine Freeman and Grover
Freeman's 13-year-old daughter had shared dinner. Then Katherine gave a
friend's baby a bath and tucked her daughter into bed at 10 p.m.
After the shooting, Katherine Freeman, a day trader, disappeared.
About 6 the next morning authorities discovered a green Cadillac Catera
registered to Katherine Freeman parked at the top of the Sunshine Skyway.
She had jumped.
She survived the 175-foot drop into Tampa Bay - breaking both legs and her
pelvis. She is recovering in the medical wing of the Morgan Street Jail.
Records show deputies found a 9 mm Taurus semiautomatic handgun lying on a
couch in Grover Freeman's master bedroom. The gun was jammed, with one
bullet remaining in the magazine. A spent magazine lay nearby on the floor.
A key to Grover Freeman's house was found in Katherine Freeman's pants.
Deputies traced the gun and found it was first owned by a Georgia man who
told deputies he sold it April 30, about two weeks before the shooting, to a
woman who responded to his classified advertisement in the Atlanta Journal
Constitution.
The woman, who matched Katherine Freeman's description and was driving a
green Cadillac, met him in a restaurant parking lot in Duluth, Ga., where he
sold her the gun with two magazines, one holding 10 rounds, the other
holding 15, for $500. The man could not identify Katherine Freeman from a
photo lineup, according to sheriff's office records.
No trial date has been set for Katherine Freeman.
Brenna R. Kelly can be reached at (813) 885-5437 or bkelly @tampatrib.com
PattyC4303
Thanks for the updates on this. I wonder what the deal is with the WHY? Sure
does sound like the Betty Broderick thing. Do we know, was he as rotten to her
as BB's husband? (NOT that I think BB was in any way justified...)
PattyC
"Feminism is the radical notion that women are people."
