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Oba CHANDLER |
FRAMING THE QUESTION: By
the summer of 1992, three years after the murders, the detectives were
willing to try almost anything. So they erected billboards around
Tampa Bay, trying to get the attention of the public -- and of whoever
held the
key to solving the case.
EVIDENCE: As time went on, it seemed increasingly clear that
whoever had written
these directions was almost certainly the killer.
TEAM EFFORT: These task
force members had their picture taken in front of the big bulletin
board filled with information and photos from the case. Left to right
are Cindy Cummings, Robert Engelke, Linda Mattson, Larry Heim, J.J.
Geoghegan, Don Crotty, Marilyn Johnson, Mark Franzman, Ron Noodwang,
Katy Connor-Dubina, Mark Deasaro and Glen Moore.
HAUNTED: Jo Ann Steffey, seen here looking out her kitchen window,
suffered nightmares about the murders.
DALTON AVENUE: By the time he became a suspect, Oba Chandler had
moved away from
the house in Tampa where he lived at the time of the murders.
MOMENT OF REVELATION: Marilyn Johnson, seated here at her desk in
the squad room,
raised her hand at the end of a task force meeting and made the
observation
that told the detectives they had finally found the killer.
THE MATCH: The composite drawing from the Madeira Beach rape
and Oba Chandler's photo.
SILENT WITNESSES: Three years after the murders, this Christmas
photo of the Rogers girls --
taken
when Michelle was 8 and Christe was 6 -- still hung on the wall of the
task force office,
spurring on the detectives as they closed in on their new suspect.
LIFE OF CRIME: These photos of Oba Chandler were taken after
arrests on various charges
in 1964, 1971, 1972, 1979, 1981 and 1982.
BRIDE AND GROOM: Oba Chandler and his wife, Debra, pose for
photographs
on their wedding day,
May 14, 1988, 10 days after Debra
divorced.
Oba Chandler
THE SUSPECT: A snapshot of Oba Chandler, roughly around the time
of the murders,
at the door of his Jeep Cherokee.
THE ARREST: Oba Chandler, led by FDLE agent John Halliday, is
escorted into
the Pinellas County jail
several hours after he was taken into custody on the
east coast of
Florida. Just before he was
brought into the jail, his hands
were cuffed in front of his body.
PERSISTENCE: Steve
Porter, an investigator with the state attorney's office, kept pushing
until he finally obtained the phone records the prosecution needed to
prove that Chandler had been on the water the night of the murders.
NEW EVIDENCE: This phone
toll ticket documents a collect call Oba Chandler, identified here by
his nickname of Obie, made from his boat on the morning after the
murders. This toll ticket was one of a handful of crucial records
discovered after a long search through microfilm.
IMAGINING THE WORST:
Scott Hopkins, an investigator with the state attorney's office, sits
on his boat near the place in Tampa Bay where Christe Rogers' body was
recovered. One evening, a few months before the trial, Hopkins took
his boat to this site and tried to understand what had happened to the
Rogers women the night they were killed.
EVIDENCE: At top is the rope used to bind Jo Rogers' wrists. The
middle piece bound
Michelle's wrists;
the bottom bound Christe's. The ropes were entered as evidence
when
the case went to trial in September 1994.
IN COURT: Prosecutor Doug Crow was known for his intensity and
skill inside the courtroom.
"Doug's the crackerjack," says another lawyer with the state. "There's
no question about it."
(Times file photos (1994) -- Maurice Rivenbark)
CRUCIAL TESTIMONY: Kristal Mays, one of Oba Chandler's daughters,
told the jurors that her
father
had made incriminating statements to her during a visit not long after
the murders.
(Times file photos (1994) -- Maurice Rivenbark)
TAKING THE OATH: From the moment the Canadian woman entered the
courtroom,
it was clear the defense was in trouble. As she testified about the
night of the rape,
she was completely, inescapably believable.
(Times file photos (1994) -- Maurice Rivenbark)
ON THE STAND: Hal Rogers, testifying as Doug Crow assists him with
an exhibit,
did his best to remain calm during his appearance in the courtroom.
TRIAL STRATEGY:Attorneys, from left, Robert Santa Lucia, Fredric
Zinober and their assistant,
Stephen DuQuesnay, listen to Oba Chandler at the defense table.
(Times file photos (1994) -- Maurice Rivenbark)
FEAR AND ANGER: Some of the jurors were so terrified of Oba
Chandler that they could
hardly bear to make eye contact with him. Others wanted to slap him.
CROSS-EXAMINATION: Through most of the trial, Chandler maintained
his composure.
But under questioning from prosecutor Doug Crow, he became flustered
and combative.
(Times file photos (1994) --
Maurice Rivenbark)
THE BOAT: Chandler was still on the stand, testifying about the
Bayliner he owned
at the time of the murders, when the prosecution dispatched Hensley to
examine
the boat and compare it against Chandler's story.
(St. Petersburg Police Department photo)
FIRING BACK: James Hensley, a boat mechanic with the Florida Marine
Patrol, obliterated
Chandler's account of how his boat broke down on the night of the
murders.
GRATEFUL EMBRACE: When it came time for sentencing, seven of the
jurors returned
to the courtroom to hear the judge's decision. Afterward, one of the
seven,
Evelyn Calloway, hugged Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett.
St. Petesburg Times
Staff Photographer Cherie Diez took
the photos, except where noted. Her photos were taken
this year.
Hal
Rogers and his sister-in-law, Colleen Etzler, provided the Rogers family
photos.
Oba Chandler on death row.
Oba Chandler on death row.
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